


The Love that Remains

by Mara64



Category: Castlevania (Cartoon), 悪魔城ドラキュラ | Castlevania Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dracula is a good husband, Dracula lives, Dracula tries his hardest, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Lisa Lives, Mating Bond, Not really a good dad though, Scent Marking, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-07 10:27:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17364272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mara64/pseuds/Mara64
Summary: Vlad Dracula Tepes had frozen atop his staircase, watching the scene replay before him maddeningly slow. She walked inside his castle— their home— and there she was in his life again, a beautiful contrast to everything he had become.“My name is Lisa. I’m from the village of Lupu and I want to be a doctor.” She called out confidently, sheathing the dagger in her hand as she looked up at the only other entity in the room. She had spoken to him with that enchanting voice, answering the questions that have plagued his mind for what seemed an eternity. All he could do was stand there with his mouth wide open, lip trembling in disbelief. She’s alive.Dracula realized that of all the things he had denounced in his life and despite his endless search for the knowledge to disproved their existence, the maddening truth was that angels were real, and she was standing at his doorstep.





	1. The Knock

**Author's Note:**

> -How about you finish the rest of the works you've left started?  
> -How about you forget about them for now and work on this new one that won't let you sleep at night?  
> As you may have guessed, I chose the latter.

_“Once you meet someone, you never really forget them. It just takes a while for your memory to come back to you.”_

              -Zeniba from Spirited Away

 

 

 

 

It was done. And for that single moment, he was at peace once again. Vlad reached out towards his son’s face, wanting to feel him one last time before crumbling into the ashes of his regret. Alucard— _Adrian’s_ — eyes were filled with sadness, grieving for the father whose life he had taken.

 

Dracula wanted to tell him not to cry for him, the shell of a man who lost the will to live and brought nothing but harm and shame to the family he so lovingly built—but he was too weak, too gone. He knew he would never see her again. The woman that made him truly live for just a fraction of his immortal life. The woman who gave him meaning, the capacity to love, and the chance to be a father. Everything he devoted himself to was for her.

 

He looked at his son one last time with eyes cleared of the dark cloud of hatred towards humanity. Adrian’s eyes brimmed with tears, as he pushed the stake further through his heart, mutilating the childhood from his life completely. That’s right, his son was still just a boy, a dhampir that had grown far too quickly to fit into his mold. Barely 16, a child in an oversized body, playing the role expected of him. Dracula was supposed to have shielded him from that, raised him as his mother would have wanted. _Grieved_ with the boy that had lost his mother. He should have been a father. Instead, he had killed any semblance of a childhood Adrian had left to live, leaving him alone in a cruel and vicious world. That is a parent’s greatest sin.

 

“Son…” It was all he could utter out to the boy, wanting to say so much more. Perhaps some parting advice to lessen his pain or a warning for the treacherous road ahead. He wanted to apologize for not being the man he deserved, or the father he needed. But most importantly, he wanted to let him know that he loved him and that it was because of his boy’s deed right at this moment that made him remember what that love towards a son is supposed to feel like.

 

“Father…” Adrian breathlessly responded, as if he already knew every emotion he had been trying to convey.

 

The world went black, and he felt the threads of life unravel his being into the void. A fitting end for the lesser man.

 

Except for the darkness quickly wasted to the light and feeling returned to his body. Heavy eyelids opened into a dimmed room, lighted only by the fire in the stone chimney.

 

_Is this a joke?_ Vlad gripped the metal armchair, infuriated by the subtle crackle of the flames as it broke through the wooden logs, sending embers floating into the room. He was in his bed chambers. _Alive._ Right where he had been grieving for his wife as he planned the extermination of humanity.

 

Could he not die? Was this the curse that plagued him for eternity? He wanted to die, more than anything he had wanted in recent years, much more than his desire for revenge on humanity. He yearned for the nothingness of death yet received an awakening back in his own home. It seemed the castle had become his coffin.

 

Exhausted and disappointed, he wandered through the large structure he once called his home, noticing it had become far too suffocating for comfort. Vlad was perturbed in finding everything untouched, unchanged. Almost as if nobody had lived there for years. It was barren, colder than he remembered it being since his wife had taken the liberty to transform certain places to her liking. He scoured the hallways confused, walked down corridors with naked walls he swore had paintings scattered throughout. Where he expected to see her smiling portraits, there were none. Where he expected to find Adrian’s painted murals, dreary untouched stone stared back at him. The trinkets from his travels, Lisa’s food that filled his cupboards, the journals she had filled with her studies, gone.

 

Something was not right.

 

He bolted left, taking wide steps through the strange place until he reached a room that could offer answers to his questions. Or so he had thought. Vlad stood in the doorway of what should have been his son’s room, the one he had carefully padded and transformed to house a child now an empty cell. The barren walls devoid of his wife’s artistry, no longer painted of the interests she thought her unborn son would enjoy.

 

He was just here.

 

He _died_ here.

 

He wandered the library, scanning the dusty bookshelves filled with texts unread for centuries. Impossible. She had read nearly every book on that shelf, fascinated with the compilation of historical events erased from the common knowledge of humanity. She was here, at one point, at some time, he knew that. But now, not even the lingering touches of her presence persisted in his home.

 

If this truly was his grave, he would have to accept his punishment.

 

Yet that flicker of doubt persisted. Something about the sway of the trees outside his windows and the cycling of the days from his observatory made it all seem too natural. Too real for him to be alive in a perpetual state of limbo for the sole purpose of driving him insane. Or perhaps it was all part of the sadistic sentence he deserved. Vlad stood before the large doors to the outside world, feeling incredibly small for once in his life. He placed a palm of the smooth wooden panel, only needing a slight push to find his answers. At that moment he hesitated, hands trembling at the overwhelming unknown. Did he truly want to know?

 

All his life, the pursuit of knowledge never eluded him. He eagerly searched for it, amassing vast stockpiles of history, but for what purpose?

 

Vlad came to wonder if anything in his life was ever real. The days turned to weeks, weeks to months. Time was never of his concern, as for any immortal being, yet now it was his worst enemy. His clockwork chambers offered no indication of the current year, and the passing of seasons meant little after a century of the same pattern. How long had he been here? Why was he here? He could seek the answers if he truly wanted, all he needed was to open those doors.

 

Vlad was tired, very, very tired. He was not inclined to survey his surroundings any longer, terrified of what the truth held. Lisa was real, there was no doubt in his mind she was. For if there was only one thing he could hold as his truth, it had to be their love. She had existed, learned from him and she had loved him, they had married, and she had given him a son named Adrian Tepes.

 

He repeated that phrase like a mantra, holding it as the only reality that actually mattered.

 

Lisa was real. She had existed, learned from him and she had loved him. They married, and she had given him a son named Adrian Tepes.

 

He searched for her medical instruments.

 

Lisa was real. She had existed, and she had loved him. They married, and she had given him a son named Adrian Tepes.

 

He searched for her scent on his bed.

 

Lisa was real. She had existed, and she had loved him. They married, and she had given him a son.

 

He searched for the socks she knitted for their boy.

 

Lisa was real. She had existed, and she had loved him. They married.

 

He searched for his wedding ring.

 

Lisa was real. She had existed, and she had loved him.

 

He searched for the poems he would write for her.

 

Lisa was real. She had existed.

 

He searched his home for any trace of the woman, her name like a foreign entity in his mind. Vlad struggled to remember what she looked like anymore and searched until no room went unexplored. He _prayed_ for the first time that it wasn’t a lie, wondering if there was anyone listening.

 

She was real.

 

What was her name?

 

It was the first thing she had told him when she demanded something from him. What did he even have that she wanted? He could look for her, she had told him where she lived, or he thought she did. What was the name of her village? It didn’t matter, he would search the world for her. He just needed to open those doors.

 

He would summon his servants to go out in his stead, filling his house once again with the things that reminded him of her, feeling that at any time, he was going to forget the only thing that mattered. The spices that lined his kitchen added fragrance to his life, but they were nothing compared to her scent. He wanted a portrait of her to decorate his rooms, but there was no source of inspiration for him to use, his mind tangling the images of no one in particular. There was only the memory of golden locks weaving through his fingers, the sound of a baby's cry, and an unfathomable feeling of pride. It was a memory of the happiest day of his eternal life. And he was forgetting fragments of it every day that passed.

 

Years later, a knock on his front door echoed through the castle.

 


	2. The Scent

**Warning: Short depiction of past self-harm and attempted suicide.**

 

 

Vlad Dracula Tepes had frozen atop his staircase, watching the scene replay before him maddeningly slow. She walked inside his castle— _their home—_ and there she was in his life again, a beautiful contrast to everything he had become.

 

“My name is Lisa. I’m from the village of Lupu and I want to be a doctor.” She called out confidently, sheathing the dagger in her hand as she looked up at the only other entity in the room. She had spoken to him with that enchanting voice, answering the questions that have plagued his mind for what seemed an eternity. All he could do was stand there with his mouth wide open, lip trembling in disbelief.

 

She’s _alive_.

 

Dracula realized that of all the things he had denounced in his life and despite his endless search for the knowledge that disproved their existence, the maddening truth was that angels were real, and she was standing at his doorstep.

 

The memories swirled through him like a blizzard, flurries of color rooted within his mind and displaced the doubt as they flourished. Lisa was real. She had existed, and she had loved him. They married, and she had given him a son named Adrian Tepes.

 

The monotonous routine that had become his life was suddenly all worth it, making him want to get on his knees to beg for her forgiveness, even for sins not yet committed. He didn’t know if he deserved to respond, to approach her and rekindle the life they once had. The thoughts swarmed through his head, ideas about how different everything could- and would- end; how much happier he could make her now that he knew the things that made her face light up with joy.

 

He had forgotten how to approach her, descending the steps like a timid pet aware its master had returned. One step at a time, his eyes never leaving hers. Vlad didn’t know if she would disappear the moment he stopped looking, or if the image in front of him was the construction of a desperate man.

 

The doors were opened, he could look past her if he wanted, see if there was a world beyond her figure. However, anything beyond those doors no longer mattered. She was here.

 

Lisa regarded him silently, waiting patiently for a response as he stopped right before her. He had forgotten if it was strength or fear that forbade her to take a step back in his intense presence as she glared, lips pursed into a tight, thin line. He was too busy staring at her in awe, not noticing how high he towered over her, how threatening he might have appeared during their first meeting. Vlad could only focus on those brilliant blue irises as she struggled to look at him, how divine her scent was as it fluttered towards him, penetrating his consciousness.

 

He needed to say something.

 

“I am Vlad Dracula Tepes.” His voice was wavering. He had not spoken for centuries, the sound of it seemed strange to him, almost like there was another being speaking in his place. He reached out a hand slowly, wondering if he could truly change things “May I take your coat?”

 

Lisa examined him skeptically as he stepped behind her, helping to remove the large wool fleece. Her eyes followed the movement of his hands down her shoulders, making him conscious of how long and sharp his claws had gotten over the years, forcing him to swiftly hide his hands beneath her coat. She was still staring at him confused, her eyes narrowed, and brows drawn together. It took only a few seconds of silence before her eyes softened towards him and her lips curled into a smile “Thank you.”

 

It was his turn to speak again.

 

“Lupu village is quite far, is it not?” He gestured for her to follow, thinking of other questions to make her comfortable in his presence as they walked. He took short steps towards the hanger, adapting once again to her pace as his body remembered how much slower he should walk. “Care for a drink?”

 

“Wow, I— I honestly didn’t expect such hospitality.” She did a double take of the man and of her surroundings, almost denying where she truly was “sorry that was probably rude of me. I’ll take anything you have to offer, thank you very much.”

 

“It’s quite alright,” Dracula said with a smile, fondly recalling her unrestrained and blatant honesty. He wanted her to keep looking, to grow accustomed to the place that would quickly become her home, her castle to keep. But he had to move carefully, reminding himself that she didn’t know him like before.

 

_Before they killed her._

 

The repressed anger flared with intensity, making his mind spiral into an oath of vengeance, and the idea to take down his enemies before they had the power to act. The wise woman of Lupu village, the archbishop, the entire Catholic clergy. They would pay, for he had not forgotten.

 

Lisa’s irregular breathing caught his attention after he had noticed she had fallen behind, picking up his pace in his frustration. Vlad stopped in his tracks, giving her some time to catch up before continuing. Her cheeks were flushed as she took in a deep breath, flashing him a smile to ease his worried expression.

 

His initial fascination with the female human came from the fragrant smell she exuded, pure and innocent, a jarring contrast to the pitiful masses of similar age. She couldn’t be older than twenty from his observations, more mature than a child and not yet jaded to have lived long as an adult. He could have asked her these things when they met, but eventually, such questions faded away, no longer important after years together. Things were different now, she had been his and he had been hers, his partner for whom he swore unyielding loyalty. His promised progeny. The questions bubbled from a pit of jealousy somewhere in his core, a maddening snake that injected its venom into his untainted thoughts. He wanted to know so much more about her. About her family, her age, her dreams. Things he never bothered to ask about before because _she_ was all that mattered.

 

How many men had come before him?

 

“I see your name on this” Lisa called from behind him, stopped before an oil painting of an albatross, making its journey across a boundless ocean. Vlad didn’t notice she had trailed behind again, too caught up in his alarming thoughts to sense her presence had drifted away. He was going to start carrying her if this became a habit. “You’re rather good.”

 

“A product of living a very long time, I presume.” He loomed over her shoulder, staring the painting he had created years ago, forgetting the reason for its existence. It contrasted the halls, too out of place for his liking, too honest.

 

“There’s so much loneliness here.” Lisa mused tenderly, tilting her head as she studied the finer details. “Also from living such a long time?”

 

He loathed how easily she could read him, even now as a stranger she seemingly just met.

 

“The dining hall is this way” He started walking again, swearing to take it down in due time, hating the defenselessness it had invoked. None of it mattered now, the wasted years, the sleepless rest, the hunger that clawed up at his throat reminding him to _feed_. He didn’t need to seek death anymore, no longer needed to suffer knowing his own hand could not drive a wooden stake through his heart. The echo of timber hitting the floor, his frustrated yells as he tried over and over again, unable to end it all.

 

It didn’t matter. His body had already erased the markings of the stab wounds, the charred flesh he had tried to burn alive and the scars inflicted around his neck, wrapped in blessed silver chains. She didn’t need to witness any of that.

 

She was here now.

 

“I have a collection of teas that may suit your morning, perhaps some coffee with Turkish kaymak to wake you from the long commute?” He held the doors open wide for her, surprised at how light they felt now as he entered the place that reminded him so much of her humanity. The spices smelled alive, tea leaves fresh and soothing, liquors vicious and stinging. Once solemnities to remember her by, now objects of her desire.  

 

Her eyes lit up upon spotting out her favorite beverages, a selection of the finest ingredients he located throughout his travels in a different life. The journey this time was not made by him, choosing to assign the task on errand boys to seek out his specified items, death awaiting them at the slightest mistake. He regretted not venturing out himself, if only he had known she would appear in his life again, if he had known she was alive, he would have stocked them by hand and tended to them in her place. She twirled through the halls that held numerous plants, some medicinal, others aesthetic, but all her favorite nonetheless “Is all this for decoration, or can you enjoy these strange drinks as well?”

 

“I can indulge myself occasionally. Hardly as a means for survival, however.” He watched as she breathed out in amusement, looking over her shoulder and beckoning _him_ to follow as she searched for anything she was acquainted with.

 

Despite the array of fragrances that assaulted his heightened senses, only one stuck out to him so vividly. Dracula stalked after her, keeping his eyes on her neck when her back was turned, tasting the sweet aroma on his tongue. He knew he should excuse himself to forage through his blood reservoirs and go feed before he compromised her safety any more. It was only his fear cementing him in place, that irritating doubt making him believe at any moment she could disappear, go up in flames once his back was turned and crumble once again into ashes in his hands. He could hold off a little longer, it had already been years, what harm would a little more time starving himself really do?

 

“I’m actually not familiar with any of these drinks, so I would appreciate anything you decide to give me.” Lisa seated herself on a cherry wood table, an artifact he crafted himself and stored away long before he had met her, forced out of its storage by her own stubbornness against his wishes. He was glad to have taken it out recently, capturing her beauty flawlessly as she waited.

 

“I believe I’ll know what you would like.” He smiled, feeling his eyes crease slightly from profound, ancient happiness. He knew exactly what she wanted, along with what fascinated her and what she secretly feared. There was nothing he wasn’t thrilled to learn about when it came to her.

_She would have hated what you had become._

 

He gripped the cobblestone counter firmly, hearing the chime of a distant memory. This was real. This moment was truly happening. He could leave for a moment, and she would still be there waiting. If only he could touch her, press her warmth against himself tightly just to know for certain. Vlad had to keep his distance while she was still wary of him, careful not to overstep her boundaries. He could wait another lifetime for her if necessary.

 

He kept searching for her scent as he prepared her coffee, mentally berating himself for committing such a beastly act towards her. She was there, her scent was there.

 

It was _heavenly._

 

The coffee was done and he needed to stop focusing, knowing the closer he got while scenting her, the more dangerous it might become, a situation that could easily spiral out of control even for the expert government of his own bloodlust. But there was something strange about her scent, a small nagging detail that wrapped itself around his thoughts and held them hostage.

 

Vlad brought back a steaming cup of dark roast coffee, heavily mixed with kaymak cream and a drop of honey to sweeten the beverage. She eyed the unknown liquid, still unfamiliar with what would become her favorite drink. After several blows over the hot surface, she brought it to her lips, taking a quick sip to offset the flavor in her mouth. One sip followed another as her eyes glimmered from pure enjoyment, revitalizing her expression instantly. Vlad took it in every aspect, making sure not to miss a single moment of her happiness.

 

“How is it?” He asked carefully, swallowing a lump in his throat while his mouth continued watering.

 

He could smell her _purity_.

 

“This is delicious! Truly!” Lisa finished her coffee, setting it down softly while she took a breath to steady herself. The look of unhappiness that crossed her face did not suit her. “Thank you for this.”

 

“There is more in the kettle if you would like more.” Vlad offered once he noticed the change in her demeanor. Her eyes hardened as she scooted the cup away, focusing her attention on him. It was the expression she would adopt whenever there were matters of importance to discuss, usually ones Vlad would not approve of without hours of bickering.

 

“I’ll cut right to the point Mr. Tepes—” Lisa took another deep breath to fix her posture, sitting just a little higher in her chair. He was staring into her eyes while another discovery came to the forefront of his mind. How could he have overlooked such an important fact, the very reason for his early obsession with this human sitting before him?

 

“Please, call me Vlad.” He took the liberty of sitting across from her, trying to get closer to her scent.

 

“Well, Vlad, I want to be a doctor.”  Lisa looked at him with a hardened resolve. He filled his lungs with her smell, feigning a contemplative expression.

 

_She was a virgin._

“I believe in science _,_ but I need to know more. I’ve already exhausted my other options and all the stories say the man that lives here possesses secret knowledge.” Her expression went deadly still, searching for any confirmation of her statement.

 

_She is a virgin._

 

“What do you plan on doing with this knowledge?” He asked patiently, a deep rumble rising from his core in protest to the calmness he was portraying. A beast bellowed within him, roaring at his ignorance, at his denial to take what already _belonged_ to him.

 

“I plan to heal people with real medicine. If what the stories say are in fact true, it means I can save so many people.” She was leaning forward, passion striking through her words like wicked lightning to his stoicism, trying to get him to see her way. If only she could know the thoughts that ravaged his mind: the sight of her naked flesh in the moonlight, the memory of her taste in his mouth, the new discoveries she had imparted on him. Lisa had given herself to him, gifted him with the most vital condition to a vampire’s bloodlust and one that could sanctify a pact should both parties be aware of the consequences. How _foolish_ was he?

 

All those years.

 

_Wasted_ when he could have known. Always so careful, always doubting. It took him too long to trust as he took her countless times, never once realizing they could have forged something so sacred.

 

Or perhaps they did.

 

“Vlad?” She pierced through his thoughts, ripping apart his tandem of random theories and drawing him back to the reality of their situation.

 

He had to protect her this time.

 

“What I possess may very well be considered dark magic in the eyes of the ignorant and witchcraft to the church. Should you be found just chatting to me you will be tried as a witch _._ ” His speech was beginning to become hurried as his breaths shortened. “Such false illusions will lead you to a gruesome death. Burned at the stake.”

 

She was taken back slightly, taking the shortest moment to direct her own argument. “As long as I can offer myself towards the greater good, then that may be my fate.”

 

Her utter disregard for her own life filled his mind with white noise. He was seething beneath a calmed expression, vividly remembering the wretched scent of her charred corpse, crumbling into the ashes of her grave. How could she throw her existence away so easily, something that would soon be his to own. “Unfortunately, I am not that altruistic. Your actions will only get you killed, and I refuse to carry that burden.”

 

“Burden?” Lisa’s voice rose an octave higher “I hardly see how whatever happens to me is any business of yours.”

 

“My mind remains set.” He narrowed his eyes, trying to appear threatening as she stood from her seat, marching towards him defiantly. Lisa’s proximity made him dig his nails into his crossed arms, fighting the thirst coercing him to take her right where she stood.

 

“I came to this place fully expecting to lose my life today. I do _not_ decide on things impulsively.” She was snarling, jabbing her fingers towards him in a complete unraveling of her usual softened character “I know the masses won’t understand my methods to acquire what I need, so I say let them gossip. I may very well even die in the end as you say, but I came prepared to assume this danger.”

 

Lisa was heaving, her cheeks flushed a deep crimson beneath the loosened strands of blond hair, ready to go again into another rampage once she had caught her breath. Her heart was beating rapidly in her chest, blood reaching that perfect temperature to feast upon while that strong rampant scent matched her frustration. Dracula wanted nothing more than to devour her at that moment, quelling that raging wildfire in her eyes as he savored every inch of her flesh. “Because if we stop dreaming of the impossible, we stop evolving. Then we would really be dammed as a species.”

 

Sprawled defenselessly upon his bed.

 

He fought hard to deny her requests, bewitched by her brash personality and feral expression in glacier eyes. Even for a being living without warmth, her eyes held nothing but the most frigid tundra, colder than they had ever looked at him. “I can’t speak for the rest of humanity, but I refuse to live like an animal any longer.”

 

_Anyone of them could have stood up and said, "No, we won't behave like animals anymore!”_

Vlad knew he acted out of fear, hesitant to foster that love for learning in her that doomed her to her death. She had given him everything he had to live for, his purpose and dreams. So obvious now as to why. He would need to renew his bond with her as soon as he could.

 

Knowledge has never cursed anyone, it was what brought her to him after all. Who was he to stop her curiosity from blossoming? “Very well, Lisa from Lupu.”

 

Her expression relaxed slightly, alarmed by the shift in his firm stance and fully expecting to keep fighting.

 

“You have full liberty of the castle. But ask no help of me. I will show you to your chambers should you decide to stay.” He got up to walk past her quickly, taking wide steps out of the room to clear his head of her tantalizing scent. She trailed behind him quickly.

 

“What’s the price?” She asked, earning a confused glare over his shoulder.

 

“What could you possibly have in exchange for my knowledge?” Vlad was one part amused by her boldness, another part curious to see what she had to offer.

 

_Perhaps I could offer you some manners._

 

“I don’t have much to my name and I’m here with only the clothes on my back.” She spoke softly, hesitating. “I know I may not be able to offer you anything now but, in the future if there’s anything I could—.”

 

“Your firstborn child.” Dracula stopped in his tracks, regressing into juvenile antics after meeting a mental lapse in his bloodlust induced haze. He turned to her, bending down to reach her level and displaying his fangs in a wide menacing grin. His goal was to scare her away, but the amusement at her bewildered expression betrayed him. “That’s what I want.”

 

“You’re mocking me.” Lisa scoffed, making a face of repulsion at the thought. “I can see it in your eyes, you didn’t even consider my question!”

 

Vlad turned on his heel with a hum, beginning to walk towards the library again. She opened her mouth to speak, but he had already made quite the distance between them, stopping any remarks she would have formulated. While she had taken it lightly, the pang in his chest hurt all the same.

 

It dawned on him at that moment, if he could even recreate the conditions that brought his son to life. The sensitive, gentle boy that took on so much of his mother. His boy. His baby boy.

 

So he stood before the room that had started it all, a broken heart beating weakly in his chest holding the memory of a son that had once outlived him and mourning the thought of never meeting him again. The pain was brutal, knowing that his life was incomplete without him. Those yellowed eyes of wonder and sadness, crying for a monster that didn’t deserve a son’s love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The concept of virginity is always something of an obsession in our culture, with the blood of virgins being historically tied to mystical/mythical properties. In Vampire literature, I believe it sometimes offered the human protection against turning or became poisonous if consumed. I've decided to take the creative liberty to twist its meaning while introducing the idea that Lisa's had no time to deal with the men in her time period. Just my own theory.
> 
> Let me know what you guys think. Comments are always appreciated!


	3. Bloodlust

 

**Warning: Graphic depiction of animal violence.**

 

 

 

Vlad remembered the last promise Lisa vowed to him. It was one to soothe him of his worries at a time he had grown fearful and insecure of the future. He continuously refused to leave her side despite truly wanting to explore the world, mentioning their time together was more significant than his trivial desires. He refused to one day regret leaving for a single, additional day during the happiest times of his life. She became frustrated with his blatant disregard of his own objectives, and she pushed him constantly to see how much the world was truly changing. It came to the point where he wondered if the desire was truly his own anymore.

 

“Vlad Dracula Tepes.” She called out harshly, stopping him in his tracks from leaving the room after a petty fight. He was wise to stay put, knowing first hand that her rage was not to be taken lightly. “If you would love me as a man, then you will travel as a man.”

 

It was a command without question, a power over him she unfortunately seldom exercised. If only she knew how he revered the fierceness in her eyes and the bite in her voice. If she knew the blistering heat her orders washed over his frigid body, then he would surely die from her relentless demands. Lisa didn’t need to know so much, he would keep that his little secret.

 

“Fine.” He approached, snarling his response and taking hold of her hips. He pulled her roughly into his chest, clashing their lips together in furious vengeance. She responded just as harshly, wrapping her arms tight against his neck and trapping him in her web of fire.

 

Lisa was inexorable. Her wild expressions reminding him that he could never truly tame her, the vixen concealed below her soft façade. She ruined him completely, endlessly. Knowing exactly how to manipulate her body to draw the concession from his lips. And after she was done with him, after she was secure of her victory over the carnivorous vampire she rode into ecstasy, she would curl against his side and rest her head upon his chest, feigning weakness to make him believe he was always in control.

 

“Don’t take my vow to you lightly, love.” Lisa ran her fingers through his hair as he rested his head against hers, enjoying the somber afterglow of a passionate evening “I won’t leave you alone, there is no doubt in my mind about turning.”

 

He hummed in response, letting the light scratches across his scalp send him into a deeper stage of relaxation. “Is that so?”

 

“But of course, there’s so much more I want to do while I’m still human.” She laughed, blushing slightly in the orange hues of the bedroom. It had been quite some time since he had brought up the question weighing on both of their minds, a simple one that carried too much weight to treat so lightly. He let her words enter one ear and escape through the other, forsaking the feeling of a mounting irritation considering his current satisfaction. He could bring it up to Lisa later, reminding her of the effect those words had on him, and to not utter such nonsense so crudely.

 

“Like what?” Vlad inquired, changing the subject in hopes of forgetting the dull pain in his heart from a topic he would rather forget at the moment. The conversation would best be brought up another time, pushed into the farthest depths of his mind as he did over and over again.

 

“I’ve been thinking that I want to create an association of doctors, people willing to sacrifice their time in the name of science and provide hospice for those in need.” Lisa smiled down at him, washing away the discomfort.

 

“What you want to create is a hospital then?” Vlad was deep in thought, reminiscent of structures forgotten to time. He looked down at her confused face, noticing he would need to explain further. “It’s exactly that- an association of doctors and apprentices that function under one principle. There used to be hospitals that functioned as a single unit in a city or those that spread their doctors across multiple cities, each in control of their own practice.”

 

She had grown silent, her lips settling into a thin line as she heard his story. “You always speak of these enlightened times in human history. It makes me sad to think such important milestones just disappear.”

 

Lisa has read his memoirs, scoured through the thousands of books he had saved from burning every time a civilization toppled over, acquired artifacts the victors of war would have rather seen destroyed than learn from. Maybe out of fear of the populace rejecting their rule, or insecure of their own technology, human rulers would rather see history destroyed, only to rewrite it themselves in a cheap imitation of what was. The bitterness he held towards humans was slowly weeping into her mind, already warping her thought slightly when she thought of what could have been, where they could be now.

 

“Greed, my dear wife.” Vlad brought his hand up to her cheek, caressing her soft skin, a gesture of reassurance “no matter how advanced society will become, humans will flock towards success with stick and stones, taking over the land and destroying all its history in petty conquest. I have seen this happen so many times, I’ve come to assume humanity just cycles through peaks of their intelligence, never able to surpass that primitive mentality.”

 

“Well I believe things will change again, they just have to.” She sighed, leaning into his touch. “I want to have something to dream for, Vlad. Eternity will feel so dreary if I just watch my kin lose all their progress over and over.”

 

He swallowed a knot in his throat and clenched his jaw. The thought of sharing the rest of his existence with his wife was nothing more than a hopeful dream, and she spoke of it so easily. As if she had actually considered the idea.

 

“It’s never wrong to hope.” Vlad tangled his fingers in a loose strand of hair, tugging on it to pull her face up towards his lips. “I’ve learned not to doubt my wife’s natural insight.”

 

Lisa returned the kiss with passion, infighting a flame that had settled into a weakened ember after their long afternoon together. She pulled away slowly, half-lidded eyes glowing affectionately, “There’s also something else, apart from the hospital.”

 

His mouth went dry at the mercy of her expression, turning himself over, and dragging his body above hers, claws tangled gently through the blond strands of her undone hair. He hovered over her body, listening intently to the slow pulse rising from her veins. “Something else?”

 

“Yes, I…” she looked away, bringing a hand to cover her eyes. Her heartbeat spiked, body temperature rising in response to whatever embarrassment she had left hidden after twenty years of marriage.

 

“Tell me, love.” He uncovered her face, pulling her vision towards him, capturing her attention and securing it with a kiss. Her glossy, reddened lips remained parted as she panted beneath him, inviting the beast inside to feast once more.

 

“I know it’s foolish of me to say it like this, but I’ve been thinking.” Her eyes drifted to his parted mouth, fixated on the fangs poking out from behind his lips “there’s something else I wouldn’t be able to do if I turn.”

 

Lisa reached up and licked his bottom lip, dragging her tongue dangerously close to the vampire’s teeth. He assumed she wouldn’t dare, letting have her way with him as she kissed him tenderly, dancing with temptation. She pulled away, watching his baffled expression, “Adrian is already so big, he has grown so much and so fast too I just-”

 

Vlad sensed her scent shift, becoming sweeter, more tempting. He hadn’t felt it that way since—

 

Lisa leaned forward again, swiping her tongue against his fang and wrapping her arms around his neck, holding him hostage to his own instincts.

 

“Lisa...” Vlad felt the awakening of his carnal hunger, heeding the call to bury the man and summon the demon. “Everything. I’ll give you everything you want Lisa.”

 

“Say the word and I’ll give you the world itself.” He swore, hushing any sound of excitement with a kiss. He devoured her happiness with his lips, replacing her joyous sounds with his own and tearing away the light layers of clothing she had foolishly put on. Her blood was intoxicating, driving him mad as he felt any semblance of control crumble into dust. It was so different, so much more than a confirmation of their undying love or a senseless defeat of his decision to stay. Lisa bit the corner of his mouth, breaking through his skin and tasting him for the first time. Too little to have any effect on her humanity, but just enough to send him soaring into. She forced out a moan, raw and hungry against her lips as their blood swirled together in an utter, savage dance.

 

To the vampire, these times were now a meek blip in time, gone before he had even realized.

 

Vlad opened the large wooden doors to the grand library, letting his soon-to-be take her first steps into the room as he stalked closely behind. His eyes burned from the memory, no doubt reddened in wild hysteria while he watched her stumble through the bookshelves. It was a re-enactment of her initial wonder, a surprise he had seen before, yet one he could replay a thousand times. Such precious moments he had forgotten mere hours ago.

 

“My,” She marveled, eyeing the massive constructions shining brilliantly in the room “they won’t be peasants anymore if you teach them. The wouldn’t live such short, scared lives if they had real medicine. They wouldn’t be so superstitious if they knew how the world really worked.”

 

Dracula let the words pass right through him, ignoring the bubble of faith that rose from within. He wanted to believe her, wanted to trust the only living creature in his life that had never cast a shred of doubt on him. But all he saw was her charred corpse, tied and crumbling down the wooden pillar in a senseless display of entertainment. “Ambitious words for a hopeless dream.”

 

_I won’t leave you alone._

 

“You don’t know that!” Her hands tightened to fists, desperation quickly filling her eyes and fading just as fast. She calmed herself once she had noticed her sudden outburst.

 

“I know more than you can imagine.” Dracula kept his voice steady, refusing to fuel her frustration further by raising his own voice. He saw the townspeople circling around the spectacle, entire families that had taken time out of their lives to watch another of their own kin burn in a depraved celebration. “I have lived on this planet for many centuries, I have watched empires fall in the name of ignorance. I believe I’ve already made myself clear, I will not help you with your suicide mission.”

 

“Then just help me make the difference.” She approached him, reaching for his large clawed hands and bringing them close to her chest. “Start with me.”

 

She squeezed tightly, holding them firmly as she searched for any change of heart. How could she touch him so easily? A cold creature with a history of murdering countless of her kind just for the thrill of it. She had heard the stories, seen the carcasses littered throughout his territory, and yet she approached him with the same kindness and trust she would show to any creature on this Earth.

 

Perhaps that’s the very reason he fell in love with her.

 

“Lisa…I’m willing to let you go through my collection, I’ll even get you whatever resources you need. But please,” Vlad felt his voice waver, closing his fingers around her hands, so unbearably small, so fragile in his grasp. “Please don’t ask me to help you.”

 

 Lisa let out the breath she was holding, dropping her hands and allowing them to slip through his grip. She gave him one last defiant look as she turned her back to him, her expression calm and profoundly disappointed “Fine then. If you’ll excuse me.”

 

He watched her head deeper into the library, setting her belongings on a nearby table and picking her first book off the shelf. It was the first one he recommended her many years ago, an introductory manual to human anatomy. Something about how quickly she had identified it, how eagerly she dove into its pages made his mind linger on a single daunting idea.

 

“Would you be so kind,” She called out, shifting his focus to her question, “to provide stationery for me to write on?”

 

“There are empty journals all around,” He approached her with a book already in hand, setting it before her on the table she had inhabited “you’re welcome to all of them.”

 

Her words of gratitude went right over his head as she traced over sentences with her index finger, reading a text composed of a language _she shouldn’t know yet._ He steadied himself on the back of her chair, feeling lightheaded at the fact that she could even read that book and the implications behind it.

 

“Vlad?” Her voice fluttered into his consciousness, breaking him away from the endless barrage of questions flooding into his mind. He felt warm suddenly, a sensation akin to burning as he realized her palm was pressed against his jaw, reigning him in from a deep trance. “Are you alright?”

 

“Lisa,” His eyes shifted between each of hers, searching for answers without having to audibly voice his concerns “You can understand this book?”

 

“Ah-!” She pulled her hand away quickly, jumping slightly at the realization that she had gotten far too close to his face. “Yes, actually… I’ve studied this language before.”

 

“When?” Vlad pressed her again, backing away completely and circling around the table. He took a seat in front of her and crossed his arms. He also leaned into the chair slightly, pretending to be calm to make it seem less interrogative and more like casual curiosity. His heartbeat picked up in his chest, expectantly waiting for her response.

 

“With my previous mentor.” Lisa furrowed her brow, watching him, confused. “Why is that important?”

 

“Just… curious.” Vlad lied to her, feeling that he was about to break out in a cold sweat. A previous mentor could be anyone, she certainly had them before they met, and it was how she knew of all the gaps in her medicinal knowledge. But that nagging little sensation remained a small floater that festered and persisted despite his attempts to brush it off as nonsense.

 

Lisa eyed him strangely again before diving back into the object of his confusion, completely ignoring his presence in the room. Vlad struggled to decide on whether to stay in the library or leave her to it, feeling unbelievably heavy in the small wooden chair. He decided on the latter, getting up awkwardly in the realization that he should quell his thirst for blood before continuing in her presence. He looked back one last time, the doctor furiously writing her notes as if transcribing manuscripts she had simply forgotten.

 

_I won’t leave you._

Her words echoed in his mind, true and sincere and the only statement that had the power to tear him away from her as he watched over proudly. He crept into the basement of his home, hearing for the first time in nearly a century the whirr of an empty centrifuge, cleaned out of its rotten blood. He should be more worried about his blood supplies, both fresh and frozen packs well beyond their expiration date, and animal reservoirs wearing thin from their malnourishment.

 

Vlad grabbed a pig from its scruff, trying his hardest to tune out the uncomfortable wails as the others scurried around like ants displaced from their anthills. He dragged the animal across the hall, ignoring the humane way to treat a creature that would serve only as a blood supply. The pig screamed insufferably when he tossed it over a counter, squirming erratically in instinctive fear. Vlad couldn’t bear the smell, hesitating to get his mouth anywhere near the disgusting creature as he loomed over its artery. But he remembered the delicate human wandering his castle now, the way her scent penetrated his toughest defenses and her careless nature to approach him without regard to his bloodlust. Lisa smelled so divine, so pure.

 

He wondered if he could get just a taste of her virgin blood before he ravished her completely. He might be able to it he could just seduce her, bend her to his will and coerce her to offer herself to him. She was his to do what he pleased with, taking her blood was his _right._

 

Vlad slammed his head against a pillar, breaking himself from the maniac state he effortlessly spiraled into. He watched the stone around the metal beam crumble to the floor, forcing him to truly see how far his bloodthirst had gone. He was a danger to Lisa in his current condition and he had no choice but to indulge in pig blood as hard as it currently was. The creature was scurrying through the room, wailing in its enclosure and searching for a way out of its inevitable death. He almost pitied the pathetic thing.

 

 Vlad caught the animal easily, bringing it up to his mouth and digging his fangs into the muscle before he could process the smell. He had to remove his teeth to get the blood from the opened wounds, but all he could do was bite down harder, tearing away skin and muscle and bone and spitting out the chunk of meat to the floor. He dropped the dying animal, unable to partake in the simplest act that made him a goddamn vampire.

 

Had it been too long without blood? He had no choice in this matter, as much as it repulsed him, and his body was going to learn to obey him again.

 

Vlad violently grabbed the mangled corpse and crushed it over his head, swallowing the stream of blood that gushed out of the deformed creature. He snapped his mouth shut and tightened his jaw, ceasing to breathe until all the blood had trickled down his throat. He tried not to focus on the taste, feeling his eyes water as they protested the sting of unwanted iron. It had never been this bad, he could easily feed on any creature that wasn’t human for survival. Always for her.

 

He counted to a hundred in his head, dragging his claws down the wall and leaving nasty markings in the stone. He was fucking _Dracula_. The vampire of all vampires, the strongest among his kind. And yet he stood there like a mere fledgling, fighting against his nature like he had taken blood for the first time. His stomach churned, refusing the food he had given it and sending it back up his throat. He fought back the rising bile, clenching his hands around his neck to suffocate himself. His body had to listen and accept it.

 

It didn’t take long until the contents of his stomach spilled onto the floor, shaking uncontrollably from the weakness coursing through him. Had he just-?

 

Vlad was gasping for air, a primal fear chaining him to the ground of his feeding chambers as it crept silently to the forefront of his mind. He was dying. He had stressed his body to the point of collapse, exhausting bouts of regeneration on a starving vessel over the years. This was simply fate collecting its dues.

 

He charged into the pig pen, tearing through the limited supply of food he had available with a rabid growl. His mind went feral, focusing only on red hues in monochrome vision, not stopping until he had stripped the life of every being in his vicinity. Vlad heaved after each mouthful of blood, regaining his senses momentarily to notice his impending doom. He was going to die. But he didn’t want it. Not anymore.

 

There were no more animals to feast from, no more blood to consume, and no life left to keep him conscious. His darkening vision brought the last memory of his wife, writing away peacefully in her library where she would find everything she needed. It was better this way, he finally conceded. She was safe from him, and her future was secure. He could only hope she would heed his warning and conduct her practice in secrecy from the masses. He wouldn’t be around to protect her, but it’s not like his presence made a difference before.

 

“I love you so much, Lisa.” Vlad closed his eyes, glad to have seen her just one last time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy. I'll go hide now.


	4. Lies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Added some more tags since I seem incapable of writing a chapter without soaking it in angst. Nearly 5,000 words later, I've finally finished the fourth part of this roller coaster of emotions.

The room was unbearably bright, assaulting his peaceful slumber as the light hammered against his shut eyelids. Vlad let out a disgruntled growl and swung an arm over his face, angry at the idea of exposing himself to any type of brightness in his weakened state.

 

Except he felt anything but weak.

 

He shot up with a gasp, his senses heightened to an extreme and hunger subsiding into an ethereal fullness. It shouldn’t be possible, his body had refused any blood he had indulged from his reserves, knocking him out on the floor of his feeding dungeon.

 

He wasn’t even in the dungeon.

 

He examined his surroundings and noticed the familiarity of his bedchambers, the pull of his bed all too inviting in his wake. His heart began to beat rapidly, and all his thoughts screamed at the idea of checking on Lisa. He couldn’t have gotten to her. She had to be okay, he couldn’t have—

 

“You are to stay in your bed!” A hand gripped his shoulder, pushing him down without restraint and covering him again with the large blanket he had tossed away. He followed the sound of that voice, meeting the loveliest infuriated glare he had come across. She was safe.

 

“Lisa…” he whispered, relieved to see her spirited fury directed towards him.

 

“Don’t you _dare_ ‘Lisa’ me.” She spat, scrunching her nose and furrowing her brow at his bewildered expression. “How long have you been starving yourself?”

 

“How did you get me here?” He asked, deliberately ignoring her question.

 

“You are _not_ the one asking questions here, I’m the one asking questions Vlad.” Lisa had her hands on her hips, scolding him like she would a petulant child.

 

“A while then. How did you—”

 

“I need an exact timeframe, I can’t do much with that answer.” She interrupted.

 

“Maybe a few hundred years. But I want to know how—”

 

 

“A few hundred?!” She repeated him, her voice nearing a squeak in exasperation “Are you unable to drink or are you actually trying to kill yourself?”

 

Vlad went silent, turning away from her face to shield himself from the repercussions. It was foolish to starve himself in such a way, knowing that eventually, his body would no longer accept being treated so carelessly. But at one point that was exactly what he wanted, an aching, drawn-out death to mourn for his beloved.

 

“Vlad look at me.” It was an order, one the vessel known as Dracula had learned to submit to.

 

He turned towards her again, feeling incredibly small in her overwhelming presence. She was everywhere, her presence filling every guilty crevice that her angered look bore into his being. He watched her hands approach him, physically flinching away from her touch like a frightened animal. He was still unsure of the danger he could expose her to, recalling the mess he had created of the few pigs left in the lower levels.

 

“It’s okay, I just want to feel your pulse.” Her voice was smooth as silk, reaching out again once he had shifted closer. Lisa rested her fingers beneath his jaw, focusing on the steady beat under his flesh with her eyes closed. He watched her for no other reason than to take in her beauty, bearing witness to her hospice first hand. “It seems your heart rate is normal, by a human’s standard. Do you feel any fatigue, dizziness, confusion?”

 

“Why are you doing this?” He questioned, having the nerve to doubt her motives for his wellbeing. Annoyance flashed over her face quickly, but she willed it away with a sigh and seriously regarded his question for once during their entire conversation.

 

“Helping you?” Lisa surmised, taking a seat on the edge of his bed in a controversial move on her part. She may have treated the vampire, but Vlad could sense the man was still very much rampant within. “Perhaps for the same reason I came on this journey in spite of all the warnings. I want to be a doctor, and a doctor helps anyone in need, to the best of their ability.”

 

“Even a vampire?” He questioned, taking in the curves of her figure on his bed, searching for any markings on her body he may have inflicted while he was unconscious. He made a mental note to forbid her from coming anywhere close to him while he was unresponsive, not even trusting himself around her conscious. The look in her eyes was strange, a mixture of both hatred and repulsion as she pondered over his question, with a face disguised in pretend happiness.

 

“You’re a sentient being, aren’t you? Why would I make an exception there?” She smiled slyly, leaning closer to him as the mattress springs creaked under her weight “besides, now I can say you owe me.”

 

The frightening gleam of her eyes had vanished making him wonder if he had ever seen it there in the first place. His Lisa wouldn’t be capable of hatred, would she? Then her laughter cut through his mind, starting a fit of giggling from watching his face cycle through utter bafflement to irritation and finally relaxing into a somber smile directed at her. She had claimed another victory, breaking down the last pillar supporting his restraint to teach her. If he was capable of falling in love all over again, it would have been in this moment. “I suppose you’re right.”

 

Lisa stayed at his bedside, silently reading the book she had taken from the library as she watched over his condition. Vlad tried to reason with her, assuring her that any fatigue he had before lifted away thanks to her efforts, but she wasn’t having it. Almost as if she was forgetting he wasn’t human at all. He found it hard to send away the caring touches of her palm pressed against his brow, fussing over his disregard over his own health. He rested in his bed only to have her stay at his side, lovely face glowing in the dim candlelight as she returned to her book.

 

“You really shouldn’t read in this lighting.” He expressed, looking over to see Lisa had drifted asleep after a few minutes. He huffed with a smile, remembering her own neglect to rest, always fighting with the time she had to study and practice and sleep. He reached out and ran his fingers down her cheek, wondering how she had gotten him to his room, and how she had helped his hunger subside. She avoided the question completely, keeping secrets from him in such an unusual manner. “What are you hiding, Lisa?”

 

Vlad stood up quietly, taking a moment to notice she had changed his clothing and cleaned the blood from his skin before somehow getting him into his bed. He loomed over her, taking the book from her hands and laying it face down on the table to save her progress.

 

The last time he had folded the top of the page she had nearly thrown the book right at his face.

 

Vlad brought an arm under her knees and another around her shoulders, lifting her gently from the chair at his bedside and hesitating a moment before placing her in his bed. She stirred in her sleep, freezing him in place until she settled into a deeper rest. He brought the covers over her shoulders and surrounded her with all the pillows he was able to find, assuring she was comfortable and secure in the nest he had made her. He took a seat at her side, wanting more than anything to wrap himself around her, and just let the time pass them by. Instead, he leaned down to press a kiss upon her crown, taking in the lively scent that made her so uniquely _her_. “I missed you so, so much my love.”

 

Vlad took another glance at the woman that had saved his life, leaving her alone in the darkness of his bedroom to take the rest she rightly deserved.

 

It was only the first day.

 

Only the first day of many that would replay so differently, an ode to the woman he once knew and a hope that she would know, wherever she was that he had not forgotten the lessons she had taught him, the stories she had recounted and the memories they had shared together. This was his second chance at a lovely life, and one he wouldn’t dare take for granted.

 

—

 

Lisa met him in the library, welcoming her morning with a cup of coffee and a candid grin, joining his side at the brightly lit table he had prepared for her. She took notice of his efforts, thankful for his time and eagerness to begin, yet nervous to approach his side.

 

“You’re late.” He chided, closing a book audibly in theatrical annoyance and watching her relax slightly from his playfulness. “My time is precious, you know.”

 

“Oh, I’m sure you have none to waste.” She responded with a laugh, finally taking the seat beside him and holding her hand out to receive the text. “It’s just that I woke up in the softest blanket known to man. I almost decided to sleep in.”

 

Vlad handed her the book brushing her hand slightly and naturally regressing into his position as her mentor. “You may take that room then, I can prepare myself another.”

 

“I wouldn’t want to take your room, Vlad.” She waved him off, flipping through the pages of the book to preview what the topic of their lecture would be, a light blush sprinkled across her cheeks “But I’m willing to take the covers off your hands.”

 

“Alright.” He let out a breath, smiling down at her and shifting just a little closer, pressing his arm against hers as he began to speak. Lisa didn’t pull away, she didn’t lose focus or talk over his lecture, just listened.

 

 Eventually, he noticed she had rested her head on his shoulder, completely relaxed and comfortable around him and making him wonder if it was the blossoming of what they once had. He didn’t know when she had begun to like him, he had only noticed the complete collapse of his own character, doubting her actions one day and spiraling into a maddening love the next. It was when he decided to act more human around her, clipping his nails and dulling his fangs to draw her attention away from his nature. Vlad continued their lecture from rote memorization, refusing to get up and ruin the love forming between them.

 

He had forgotten how quickly Lisa picked up on information, exercising her open-mindedness without restraint in his presence and continually testing his genius with her relentless questioning. She was smarter than many humans he had met in his lifetime, a natural curiosity towards the mechanics of the simplest things, ideas taken for granted but never thoroughly explained to her until now. She excelled in chemistry, math, and biology, hungry for topics that would push her to the limit of what she knew, and utterly detesting the lectures on history. Lisa hadn’t changed at all.

 

There were subtle differences upon their second encounter as well. After several months had passed she set about exploring the castle, coming across portals that teleported her across the floors and using them more often than not. This time, Lisa was more inquisitive on matters she had never asked about before, wondering how teleportation worked, and how the castle could travel as he had claimed. He almost decided to explain the mechanics in a way she would understand, but he wondered how she would react witnessing it firsthand.

 

Lisa gasped when she entered his private quarters, areas she never decided to visit in her past life as if to not invade his privacy. Her sight lingered on the floating glass shards in the center of the room, refusing to get any closer to the mirror. He pressed a hand to the small of her back, accompanying her to walk towards the swirling crystals and leaving it there as the shards cascaded down to meet them. Lisa watched them reform into a mirror, her reflection appearing as stiff as her body from what she was seeing. His eyes caught hers, wonderful blue irises waiting eagerly for what would happen next.

 

In the silence Vlad watched her with a somber thought: he felt a harrowing closeness to her after only a few simple weeks, revealing more about himself and his nature than he realized he was comfortable with. She wanted to know everything now, taking momentary breaks from her studies to ask about a world beyond her own. But in a sense, he wanted her to know who and what he truly was this time around, as heavy as his past was to bear.

 

She looked up at him half alarmed and half excited.

 

“This is a scrying device. A two-way mirror that lets me see the world and project myself to whom I please.” He reached out with a claw and scraped a glyph onto the surface, bringing forth the scenery of a vast open desert. He had let them grow long without realizing, no longer feeling the need to hide his hands from her. “Go ahead and reach out.”

 

She was speechless, taking a step back and pressing herself tightly against his side while shaking her head ‘no’.

 

“I promise nothing will happen to you.” He said softly, moving his palm around to her hip and offering a gentle squeeze. Lisa took a deep breath and stretched out her arm as he had directed, letting out a small yelp as her hand vanished into the mirror. She retracted it just as fast.

 

“It was warm.” She breathed, bringing her hand up to face and examined it thoroughly. “But all I felt was the temperature difference. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have even noticed I was going through a mirror.”

 

“I suppose there’s not much to feel when you go through one.” Vlad brought a caped hand to her shoulder, offering a small gesture of reassurance as he pulled her close. “Would you like to try?”

 

“Oh no, I don’t think I have an ounce of magic in me.” She shielded herself under his cloak.

 

“You don’t need magic. You just need to know a forgotten language.” He held out his hand, smiling as she carefully placed her palm in his and let him redirect it towards the mirror. He folded his hand over hers, directing her index finger to cast a letter against the surface, resetting the mirror in ringing cycling of shards. She filched but stayed put, watching it reform again. “What would you like to see?”

 

“An ocean,” she whispered, letting him glide her nail across their reflections. It swirled again, and she took a step towards it, smelling the scent of the sea before it had formed before her. Lisa reached out without warning, stretching farther and farther until he had to whisk her back to his side. She was laughing as her body tumbled back into his chest, arms dripping with salty water from the ocean. Vlad felt his heart hammering fearfully, wanting nothing more than to scold her for almost falling through into the water. But her laughter was his weakness, and he took his place as a silent observer, watching her step towards the mirror again and bend closer to the ocean with care. “I’ve never been.”

 

“Do you want to go?” He could take her there, let her experience the things she had never seen while he was traveling. There were so many places he wished to take her, desiring to take in the beauty of the Earth at her side. But she had never come with him, her dreams were to heal the humans she was close to and thus her world remained very small. Vlad knew he couldn’t join her at the sea, it was too dangerous for a vampire to bask in open water, the reaches of holy blessings stretched far through its currents. Lisa was human, and her skin would not burn from the curses of heretics. Only the fire.

 

“Can we?” She turned around quickly, her eyes fostering pure joy as they surveyed his expression.

 

“Follow me.” His stomach twisted at the sight of her excitement, not of fear or apprehension towards their destination, but of a feeling that had begun to gather dust deep in the confines of his mind. Her enthusiasm was infectious, making him worry about the influence she had over him, and the growing eagerness to show her the world as he had seen.

 

She ran in front of him when they approached the floating polyhedron, circling around it in awe as the red and gold device responded to her presence. Something about her standing in his tower, in the golden light cast by the setting sun behind her and the swirl of the teleporter before her fingers made her beauty all too enchanting. Vlad went still at the foot of the steps, taking in her radiance like it was the first time he had cast his eyes upon her. Lisa looked down at him from her throne, clad in a red wine dress sculpted to her perfect body, unaware that soon her belly would swell as it housed their son, the days quickly racing towards the moment he was made. Vlad decided to let her fall in love naturally, forbidding himself from rushing her into anything she did not want herself, despite their only chance at bringing back their boy closing in rapidly.

 

It was fine, they would be okay.

 

“It’s beautiful.” She gazed upon the shimmering panels, following the rotation of its faces completely captivated.

 

“It pales compared to your beauty.” He uttered without thinking, watching her shift her attention to him with bright pink cheeks. He tore his sight from her, bringing his hand up to the polyhedron. “I will teach you how to move this castle in time, since it takes a little more mastery to control.” Vlad swiped diagonally, changing the topic and watching the device swirl at his direction. “But right now, we have an ocean to see.”

 

The faces lifted away from its core, spinning rapidly and awakening the castle from its slumber, shaking their entire structure as it prepared to move again. Lisa found her place beneath his arm, steadying herself upright against his chest as the floor trembled beneath them. Vlad held her securely, wrapping both arms around her in a tight embrace.

 

She watched the scenery change into a waterfall of colors before settling into the sunset once again, releasing her sounds of astonishment, and looking around frantically at the sight before them. Vlad did little to stop her from slipping from his hold, following her towards the entrance of their home and watching her twirl around to meet him at the front. He stilled at the sight of the towering wooden doors. He hadn’t stepped a foot outside his heaven, still fighting the flutter of doubt that always remained.

 

“Aren’t you going to open these doors?” She inquired, circling in front of him and tilting her head in confusion.

 

“I…” His hands were pressed against the wooden panels, all he had to do was offer a light push and open them towards the outside world. The panic stuck again.

 

“Vlad?” She was beside him, reaching out and tracing circles on his back, notice his reluctance. “It’s okay, we don’t need to head out today, it’s already getting late—”

 

“No, I have to do this.” Vlad leaned into her touch, “I need to know that this is real, that you’re real.”

 

“That I’m real? Of course, I’m real.” She stepped in front of him, bringing her hands to either side of his face and pulling it down to her level. “Look at me. I’m not an illusion, I’m not a dream. I’m here, with you, and opening these doors won’t change that.”

 

Lisa was smiling, but her joy didn’t reach her eyes. They were looking straight into his mind, searching for answers. She treaded to the side and whispered her command, “The lies end here.”

 

Vlad pressed on the doors weakly, doing exactly as she ordered, and letting her words scatter the questions in his mind. The lies end here. The sunlight filtered through the crack, dancing on his exposed skin in its song of warning. The scent of the ocean followed in tow, and it was only when he opened his eyes to the sight before him, did he see the truth. Lisa laced her fingers through his, leading him through the trees and onto the sandy shores. What lies?

 

His steps felt heavy as he processed the feeling of being outside his castle for the first time in a very long time, sinking into the soft pale sand beneath his boots. He took a moment to survey the sunset, a view he found matched the harmonious sounds of the ocean waves crashing into the shore. What lies?

 

 Lisa removed her hand from his to take off her clothing, taking him completely by surprise as she stepped out of her undergarments and exposed her naked body to the outside air. He shouldn’t stare. It was rude, offensive and reprehensible to have kept his eyes wandering and his mouth salivating at the sight of her. Her eyes had the heavy impression of knowing her own beauty, running a hand up his arm to detach the cape from his back. She led him further down the beach. He should have been wary of the water, an echo of its dangers coursing through him, but Lisa had stripped his clothing and carried him towards the marine with her sirens song. What lies?

 

The cool water rushed forward to meet him, a gentle caress on his pale skin as they marched further into its depths. The sun had crossed the horizon, staining the sky a deep crimson as it was taken over by the night, casting the light of the moon upon her face and along the arch of her breasts. What lies?

 

It felt good to bathe in the warm water, untainted by meaningless blessings of self-proclaimed sons of God and allowing him to worship his one true goddess. She flowed close to him, anchoring herself around his arm to not get taken by the currents. She looked up smiling, bringing a hand to his head and pulling him into the depths of the sea. She was kissing him roughly beneath the surface, tangling her fingers in his hair and pressing her warmth against him. He swam back up to let her catch a breath, claiming her lips when the panting had settled. It was a desperate kiss, messy and careless as he nipped the side of her mouth and tasted her blood on his tongue. He pulled away with alarm, dangerously close to losing his focus. Recalling a vampire’s bloodlust could easily awaken their sexual frustrations.

 

Lisa licked her lips, throwing her arms around him and pulling him lower towards the bend of her neck. She was inviting, her scent filled with lustful intentions. “Let me know you’re real too.”

 

“Lisa,” he fought against his nature, snapping his mouth shut as he pressed his nose to her flesh, devouring her aroma, and feeling the heavy pulse coursing in her veins. The few times he had drunk her blood, she had drawn it from her arm and offered it to him in a glass vial or pouch. He would take only what was necessary, only indulging in the honey-soaked blood when he missed her dreadfully during his time away from home. He wouldn’t succumb to the instinct to bite her, refusing to expose her to such a dangerous, vile act. “No.”

 

“I need to this Vlad. I need to know what you really are, so I can break this illusion once and for all.” She was crying, her shoulders trembling in his embrace. She offered him a somber grin, running her fingers down his cheek and through his beard, dripping into the water that reached their shoulders.

 

He didn’t understand. Was this the lie?

 

“What… do you mean?” He stopped all other thoughts, focusing only on the woman in front of him. He held her tight, fearing she was going to get carried away by the currents and disappear from his life again.

 

“I was fooling myself.” She laughed bitterly. “I thought I could change you. I wanted to make you realize that you had more in common with humans than you realized. I didn’t want you to hate them anymore.” She was talking fast through her tears. “When we married, I told you to act like a man, completely neglecting to accept your true nature.”

 

“Lisa?”

 

“I told myself it would be different this time. That I would bring forward every dark and ugly detail you always hid from me, so I could see the truth with my own eyes.”

 

The words died in his mouth.

 

“Take my blood Dracula.” She had grown quiet “show me what you really are.”

 

So he did.

 

He buried his fangs deep into her neck for all the sadness and frustration. For all the loneliness and pain. For all her lies and betrayal. He took her blood just to show her that he could. That this was a vampire’s true instinct. He relished in the sweet purity of her blood until it was tainted by his presence, drawing the pained moans from her lips until they escaped in perfect screams. He bound her soul to his again, injecting the venom into her neck and pulling back to watch the silver threads stitching a banding into her skin. The legendary vampire’s kiss.

 

He had carried her back into their home, their bodies dripping wet and hot across their bedsheets, defiling them as they did to each other. He kissed her flesh until no inch of it went untouched, traveling lower to reach her ruined warmth. He lapped up her venom, tasting himself along the pink folds of her skin and worshiping her body like a heathen. She called for him with open arms as she neared her climax, urging him to take her again and again as the night carried on.

 

He left angry bite marks along her neck, some mere indents, and others breaking through the skin to prove that he could take what he wanted, that she belonged to him. She called him by many names, Vlad, Dracula, vampire. Never by the one that truly mattered.

 

“I am your _husband_.” He growled at her, more of a reminder for himself to hear, a confirmation of their new reality.

 

“Not yet.” She sighed in response, savoring the depths of his thrusts.

 

Lisa wrapped her legs around his waist, forcing him to release deep within her every time he came. And then she would look at him again, lips slightly parted and heavy-lidded eyes, a look that harbored no intent of suggestion. She wouldn’t ask, only demanded. Clawing her markings into his back with the sad thought that they wouldn’t last. He wanted her scars more than anything, he wanted the world to know her pain etched along his body. He longed to belong to her again if she would let him.

 

Lisa has returned to him, hiding the fact that she too had retained her memories to punish him just a little longer.

 

But he couldn’t find it in him to be angry at her secrecy.

 

Or for driving a silver dagger into his chest, covered with a blessing to bring his downfall.

 

Her eyes brimmed with tears as she pressed it father into his body, missing his heart entirely. He looked at her silently, the veil of her lies lifted from his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is from Lisa's perspective, offering some answers to her actions. Mostly done, just need to keep up with the revisions and grammar checks.  
> Hope everyone is enjoying what I've written so far!


	5. Chained

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little shorter than I would have wanted but only because the original chapter had to be split in two.  
> ALSO--I love reading through all the comments, and swear I would respond to them all if I could (pinky-promise!). But they all truly make me so happy to read through. I love the reactions, the questions, critiques, and compliments! I never thought I would be able to pull myself through a multi-chapter fic (this is the first time I've had the willpower to finish one), but all the love and support I have received has made it all worth it. So I would like to take this moment to thank everyone for reading, and giving me the confidence that I'm making something good for once! I love you all so much!

 

 

Lisa had noticed the change when he hesitated to meet her at the entrance of his castle.

 

His eyes were fearful, neglectful of the fact that she was truly there from atop his staircase. He loitered at the balcony and she decided to call out to him as she had done from the beginning, stating her name, her origin and her objective with ease. So, when he finally responded to her presence and began descending the wide-open stairs, she had relaxed slightly, thinking it was just a falter in his character from whatever future she had come from. But he addressed her with the manners she had instilled in him shortly after, and it was when she realized he too, came from the same future. The same one in which she died and witnessed his relentless massacre upon humanity as a wandering spirit, bound to him from her eternal vow of loyalty.

 

Lisa thought her misery had been painful enough, having been tortured and beaten by the self-proclaimed righteous men of the church, quickly regretting her carelessness and thoughtless faith towards her own people. Lisa rubbed her stomach inside a holding call for hours, knowing it was far too early to feel its presence, but apologizing for not being a better mother, and for not having the strength to carry her baby into the world. The bishop caught her in the act, tear-stained cheeks flushed with desperation as he ordered his men to beat the devil from its womb. He had climbed over her bloodied frame to proudly state that he had cleansed the world from Satan’s spawn, ripping away the red dress her husband had tailored for her.

 

“It’s a shame how beautiful the Lord made your corporeal vessel.” He cast his eyes over her, taking in the sight of her exposed flesh and exhaling regretfully at its sight “Only to have you taint it with your wickedness.”

 

“Let me go, and I’ll find the will to forget this ever happened.” She forced out through gritted teeth, taking every detail of his face to remember the vile man that had ordered the execution of so many guiltless women and children “I don’t want any more innocents hurt.”

 

“Touching. Your words are righteous and yet you love a man that you yourself call worse than Satan?” The Bishop caressed her face, pulling roughly on the chains wrapped around her neck when she tried to pull away. “You _chose_ to stay with him, you let him deflower you and marry you under the watchful eye of God. You defile a holy ceremony and then nurture his demons to tear through humanity. For this treason, your soul will find no rest in the eternal pits of Hell.”

 

“He was changing.” She cried out “ _I_ was changing him.”

 

“Can you look me in the eye and call him virtuous? Can you swear upon God that the demon has truly become the loving man you claim?” The Bishop said with a scowl, looking upon the distress in her eyes as the answers he needed to hear. Because as hard as it was to reason with, the Bishop was right, Lisa knew what her husband was capable of. She had known all along beneath his tender lies and promises. “Let us see where your efforts have led.”

 

As the flames engulfed her body, she sent one last wish to her beloved, hoping he could hear her last words and find it in him to mourn her death in peace. Their unborn child was innocent, and the innocents just like their baby did not deserve a fate of pain and misery.

 

She foolishly thought death would be the end of her sorrow.

 

Then chains around her soul confined her to the earth dragging her back into a pitiful, cold darkness that felt painfully empty, lonely and sad. When she regained her consciousness and recovered an understanding of her surroundings, Lisa felt the presence of her husband more than she could realize her own. She called out to him, believing that being a soul bound to his existence allowed him to feel her presence and hear her pleas. Lisa soon realized she was utterly wrong. She watched him bring his suffering to the ones that killed her and watched him torture the ones that didn’t. She watched his madness consume him until she couldn’t recognize who he was anymore, a complete unraveling of the man he used to be.

 

Lisa kept reaching out to him, promising she was there for him, that he could still turn back into the beloved man she once knew before it was too late. But in his anger, he would enter his study, and break the vials of medicine she had asked for him to look over, ripping through her notes and manuscripts on his podium. Lisa hid in the corner of the room, unable to stand the sight of his wrath and destruction. He tore through nearly every invention she had worked on, her unfinished works and paintings she had left out to dry. It came to the point Lisa became afraid of being dragged into his private study, triggering the fearful events he exposed her to every waking moment after her death. She could not rest, she could not escape. Lisa detested living as a slave to his insanity, a silent observer, shackled to a reflection of a distant memory.

 

Vlad would cry out her name in his lowest moments, trembling in his loneliness as he swore to avenge her death. Lisa would stand at his side, reminding him of the only promise she wanted to hear.

 

She also bore witness to his retaliation against Adrian, nearly killing her son in his anguish. That was the last of his hatred she could handle. Lisa wanted to follow her wounded boy, offer her presence in the case he could feel her metaphysical love. But her spirit remained shackled to the monster that was once her husband, yelling at him to stop and listen as her words faded into limbo.

 

Within the year she saw him gather his forces and release his army of the night upon Wallachia, dooming them for many years to come as his plague swept up from Hell. Lisa hovered over his shoulder, staring deep into the magic mirror in his room the extent of their destruction. The rain spiraled down in bloody horror as his demons ripped through the residents of Târgoviște, man, women and children alike. She watched only to see the truth of what had become of him, to remember every painful detail in his satisfied expression that watched on as his servants carried the bodies of infants within their jaws.

 

_Let us see where your efforts have led._

All those deaths, all the suffering, and chaos the befell humanity— it was all on her. _She_ had caused this anguish. It was her arrival at his doorstep that made him open the doors to her humanity, and truly become aware of them once again. She had made him travel, she had made him see the changes in the world. She had made him see the evil in the hearts of humans. The demon known as Dracula had become a ghost, a legend among the people. Vlad had grown bored of the killing, he had lost his purpose to enjoy their screams of pain. His actions long forgotten, a buried monstrosity in bitter tiredness.

 

It was her fault because she had given him a love to cherish and a family to protect. She had given him a reason to kill again.

 

Perhaps she was the true devil in disguise.

 

He gathered his forces, sought the help vampires he had abandoned long ago, forging false allegiances as he included them in a drawn-out suicide. She watched the betrayal running rampant in his court, such fragile bonds of loyalty befitting their evil intentions, wishing for it all to crumble beneath his feet.

 

Lisa would end it all herself if she only could.

 

And then he had called upon Judas herself, a woman with a wicked smile and eyes of a serpent, hair as white as her lies. Lisa had heard her name before, Carmilla, one of the many lovers her husband had taken to bear with the loneliness. It was only to be expected for an immortal man, she accepted his history, but never anticipated the pain of watching him call upon that woman to mourn her death. Lisa loathed the way Carmilla casually pretended to have never met him, the way she blatantly questioned his decision to respect her wishes upon turning and then walking into his room like she was all too familiar with the inner workings of his home.

 

She wished she could forget the admiration in his eyes.

 

When the court talked about Alucard like he was an enemy, she waited for her husband to correct his name, to realize that they were talking about the only piece of her he had left in the world and to leave him out of their petty war. In the end, he never found it in him to correct them.

 

Were they enemies now? Did he feel no remorse for what he had done to their boy? Was Adrian just an insignificant obstacle to overcome?

 

“Adrian is your son!” Lisa yelled until her own voice fell deaf on her ears.

 

It was torture to watch her baby face him again, the crazed maniac he still called his father.

 

 

 

“Your war is over,” Adrian called out against him, entering his chambers with two strangers at his side. Lisa wondered if they were friends she had never met before, if her son was able to forge new bonds with people that would truly care for him.

 

“Because you say so?” Dracula said low, menacing, standing up from the chair he was expecting to meet them. She didn’t like the look he was giving her son, an intensity in his eyes that signified he was ready to kill. She feared the monster he had become.

 

“It ends in the name of my mother.” Adrian drew his sword, appearing so strong and handsome as he honored her memory. But she didn’t want this, she couldn’t stand to watch her son fight his father once more. Lisa worked so hard to make her son find his own individuality, to not define himself against the wrath of his father.

 

“It endures in the name of your mother.” Dracula growled, catching Adrian’s Crissaegrim with a single clawed hand. Lisa wondered if he even remembered her will anymore, the dreams she had shared with him in the confines of their bedroom, and the vow he had sworn to her on the day of their wedding.

 

_Promise me, and I need to hear it from you now. Promise me that if anything happens to me, you will watch over our son, and love him for the two of us._

She thought his hesitation meant he was truly considering her request.

_I swear, Lisa._

Lisa realized now he had just been fabricating his lie.

 

She cried silently as they fought, finally witnessing the depth of his dishonesty. Dracula was vicious, eyes burning a bright red as he pummeled through the humans and tossed his own child around like dirty garbage. The promise he had made her was now a forgotten dream, a simple agreement to soothe her worries and make her compliant.

 

To believe she was willing to live an eternity beside him.

 

She felt her boy’s pain for every devastating slash across his chest, for every bashing of his face into the stone floor, for the claw tightened around his neck willing to end the life of his baby. Lisa watched the monster chip away at her boy’s strength, remembering how those same hands had once lifted Adrian high above him to hear his laughter, how those broad shoulders now slumped over in a feral stance once carried their son on his travels. Every one of Adrian’s attacks were of his teaching, it was why Dracula could anticipate his every move. How could he look at that same blade and not recall having forged it for his son?

 

Then they stepped into her son’s room.

 

Time froze around them.

 

The past flooded their minds.

 

The monster finally remembered he had once been a father.

 

Lisa finally noticed her hatred.

 

“My boy.” Dracula had stilled, truly looking at his son through unclouded eyes “I'm killing my boy.”

 

Her eyes were on Adrian, weak and breathless on the broken frame of his bed. This was his chance. She called out to him, hoping to focus him on his task and give him whatever strength she had left “Adrian!”

 

“Lisa.” The monster had heard her, and he was looking at her, acknowledging her presence for the first time “I'm killing our boy.”

 

She called out to her son, the only one that truly mattered anymore.

 

“We painted this room.” His voice was soft, sounding for the first time after her death like the man she had left behind. She tried not to look up at the walls they had painted, wanting to erase the joy that was once there, it didn’t belong to him anymore. But the harder she tried to separate the man from the monster, the more she remembered, and suddenly she could see it all again: brushing a strip of white paint across his cheek, Vlad returning her playfulness with a blob of blue on her nose. Then they laughed and kissed and waited patiently for their future child to join their happiness.

 

“It doesn’t matter anymore.” She was suffering.

 

“We made these toys.” He looked at the wolf she had stitched together, the rubber balls he molded and the little instruments they both scaled down in size for their son to play with.

 

“Stop it!” She was covering her ears, she couldn’t take it anymore.

 

“It's our boy, Lisa.” His words rang clear in her head, “Your greatest gift to me… and I'm killing him.”

 

She looked up at her baby boy, at the child they had raised together. He wasn’t supposed to grow up so fast. He wasn’t supposed to be approaching his father with a wooden stake, stopping before that creature that had taken over the man they once loved dearly. She wished Adrian could be free of that burden, mourning for his lost childhood. He was still so young.

 

“I must already be dead.” Dracula looked through his son, waiting for his inevitable death.

 

Her last action was to see it through, watching the scene play out before her without once looking away.

This was her pain to bear.

 

Her eternal reminder that she had failed.

 

When it was over, Lisa raced towards her son, hands going right through him and wishing for just a moment that she could embrace her little boy, hold him tight and whisper that it would all be right now, that he had made her so, so proud. With one last look upon the humans he had sought, she hoped they would offer him solace and keep her boy company.

 

He was always so bad at making friends.

 

It all went dark at last, her soul freed from the captivity of its master.

 

And her suffering was finally over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The second part of Lisa's inner monologue will come out shortly, this time focusing on her thoughts after arriving at the castle. I hope I was able to depict her inner struggle well, and her pain when watching the one she loved fall to madness. IF it all goes according to plan, the reason as to why her soul was bound to him will be revealed after the next chapter, with the possibility of adding an extra chapter or two towards the final count. Let's see how easily I can get these ideas across.  
> As always, let me know what you guys think!


	6. Betrayal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Added additional tags as more characters are revealed in the second part of Lisa's internal struggle and increased the chapter count after looking over the outline.  
> Enjoy the chapter!

 

 

 

Lisa thought of nothing in the river, drifting through its currents without worry, without memory. The skeletal hand would reach out to her, but she would float away, rejecting its help to carry her out of the water.

 

“It’s time to come back Elisabetha.” The cacophonous voice would call out to her, following her closely, always by her side. She didn’t even remember if that was her name.

 

“Why.” She would always question, scurrying away to join the other souls, but he would keep her apart, breaking her away with his scythe. There was another she wished to meet, a bright golden warmth that called out to her and a smaller darkened shadow, so frail and underdeveloped.

 

“My Master needs you.” The grim reaper passed her soul into a separate well, keeping her apart from the tides. “You will meet your children soon, but first you must return to him.”

 

“Who?” She asked in her enclosure, having nothing else to do but wander in the crystal chalice.

 

“You already know Mathias Cronqvist, my Mistress.” The skeleton was pouring the water into a mirror, carrying her away into the waterfall. “While I do enjoy your presence, Elisabetha, I plead we never meet again like this.”

 

When she was reincarnated, she remembered the life she had once lived. And she found there was only hatred left inside her for the beast. No love that remained.

 

Lisa was praised for her intelligence from a young age, remembering to be careful about what she revealed to the villagers, and using her limited resources to practice her medicine. The wise woman of Lupu village was always stalking her, circling around like a hawk to catch and accuse her of evil acts. She was the same woman that had spread the word of her intellect to the church and brought upon her death, apparently finding it impossible for a woman to study medicine without the guidance of the devil. So, Lisa kept her secrets hidden cautiously, for no longer would she be caught by the ignorance and prejudice of her own people.

 

She trained with the guards of her village at the age of sixteen, eager to quarrel with a girl of her beauty, and press themselves against her with the dirty thoughts of getting closer to her. They would let her win, but in their folly, they had taught her enough, and in their boredom,  she had gained their trust.

 

“I need a strong weapon,” Lisa said to them one night, tending to the wounds they had received from their patrols and testing the waters of their friendliness. She had grown stronger, wiser, more shrewd than any eighteen-year-old woman in her village. She let no one bring problems upon her to bear, and in turn, she grew colder. But coldness would not bring Dracula to love her. So she practiced her charms on lesser men.

 

“Don’t we all miss?” A guard said to her as he laughed with his men, relaxing on the floor of her cot as she spread a numbing agent across his open wound.

 

“I need a blade, small enough to hide, but sturdy enough to kill even the strongest vampire.” Lisa sterilized the gash and flamed her needle before sewing shut the torn flesh.

 

“Ah!” He gasped as she wrapped a bandage tightly around his torso when she finished stitching up the wound. “You won’t find any of that around here.”

 

“You’re all holding out on me, I can tell.” She pouted innocently “Haven’t I been good to you? Closing your lesions and treating your pain?” Lisa ran her fingernails gently down his neck, palming his shoulder and gently massaging the muscle beneath. The guard let out a defeated groan and Lisa decided to push even farther. “Keep your secrets then. Next!”

 

He grabbed her wrist before she had the time to remove her hand, sitting up straight to eye her seriously from his makeshift bed. “Why carry such a dangerous weapon when you have us all at your command, Lisa?”

 

There were five guards currently stationed in her room, each one becoming a close friend as she continued to socialize with them. A few had wives of their own, yet every single one regarded her the same way, a look that saw her as a prize to show off. She remembered the words uttered by Dracula as he forged his alliances, unknowingly teaching her more than the medicinal knowledge she had requested. “Then may I ask, are you all still my friends?”

 

“Of course.” Another man knelt at her side, inquisitive towards her reservations.

 

“And you’ve been listening to what the wise woman of this village says about me.” Lisa tended to the scratches littering his arms, cleaning them thoroughly and checking to see if any required stitching.

 

“Don’t listen to her Lisa.” The first guard shrugged off her worry “She orders us to lay a hand on you and I swear I’ll be the first barrier they have to get through.”

 

“She’s been calling me a witch. Every time she looks at me it feels like she wants to kill me herself.” Lisa bandaged his arms as the men around her laughed, taking her seriousness as a petty game. “And what if she doesn’t call you, what if she calls those clergymen down to get me? Good luck finding another doctor as pretty as me.”

 

The men were wooing her gaudiness, whistling and chuckling as she let her face harbor a sweet smile. “You should be more worried about my wife!”

 

Their laughter rolled around in waves, nudging her shoulders in playful slander as she tightened her grip around a bruise. “Ouch— don’t be jealous Lisa, you’ll always be the only woman I really want!”

 

“You’re all ridiculous. I’m done here.” She decided to try another night, packing her supplies as they awed sarcastically, wrapping their arms around her shoulders and swaying her around.

 

“We won’t let anything ever happen to you. On a man’s honor.” They held up their right hands, observing her seriously for a second until their giddiness erupted again. Lisa giggled along just to comply to her persona, remembering their faces wearing nothing but apathy as she was carried shamefully from her home, their own torches added to the pyre where she burned. She never let her hatred show. Scorning internally the honor of _men_. “Listen, love, you know if we had weapons of that magnitude, we wouldn’t come back to you with so many injuries.”

 

“We would be guarding the king!” Another yelled out, taking a shot of whiskey.

 

“But I may just know of some bastards that might.” Her first patient pressed his cheek against hers, his stubble annoyingly scratching her skin. Vlad was never so unkept, his face was always shaven, and his hair was silk to the touch.

 

“Tell me.” She turned slightly to whisper her command on his lips, drawing the information right from his mouth. His kiss was, chapped lips and weathered skin dragging on her quick sign of affection for far too long. She cursed herself for comparing it, hating how her husband ruined her for any other man. His tender kisses like heaven, sharpened fangs brushing her like a warning of what was coming to her, preparing her for how thoroughly he would ravish her when the sunlight appeared over the horizon.

 

 

 

Lisa had remembered how the vampires in Dracula’s court thought of humans, calling them all meager cattle. Mindless creatures with no thoughts, dreams or ambitions of their own. They wanted to keep them in pens and breeding enclosures, serving as livestock for their irritable lives. She recalled how different her husband regarded humanity, understanding they were very much sentient and alive. But his reasons for their deaths was one of pure evil, it wasn’t just that of a predator following the mere instinct to feed. No, Dracula knew very well what he was killing.

 

In the end, he was still one of them, and when it was all said and done, he would succumb to his monstrosity. If she failed again, there had to be a failsafe, a way to secure her will would not go unwritten. For this reason, she stared back at her reflection from the cup of tea, blood running cold as she sat waiting patiently inside the Belmont home.

 

“I apologize for the wait.” A man no older than forty greeted her in the living room, holding out his hand for her to shake. She took it calmly, feeling the tight grip of the man who would easily bring her son to his grave. Just like his father’s claw tightening around his neck. “I was helping my wife tend to our newborn son.”

 

“Oh? And how old might your boy be?” Lisa’s face lit up at the sound of a baby’s crying.

 

“Trevor’s just a few days now, but God, listen to that screaming.” The Belmont took a seat across from her, his gaze cast towards the sound of his child in the other room.

 

“He’ll be a troublemaker for sure.” She smiled at the proud father, his face sending her back to the image of her husband, holding Adrian carefully in his arms after a long painful birth. “Don’t mind me if you need to tend to the baby.”

 

“Nah, he’s too spoiled anyways.” The man shrugged it off leaning forward to focus his attention on his guest. “Show them too much affection and they’ll never want to venture out into the world.”

 

“Maybe show them enough and you’ll wish they never leave.” Lisa retaliated with a somber smile, the loneliness aching in her heart as she would send off Adrian to explore the country like his father, eyes full of wonder, and anxious of what awaited him.

 

“It sounds like you speak from experience, young miss.” He tilted his head “Any children of your own?”

 

“Expecting.” She cleared her throat, feeling the air around them go from uneasy to friendly after her little lie.

 

“Congratulations miss.” He leaned back again, lowering the guarded front he had put up at the beginning of their interaction. “I see now why you’re looking for a weapon.”

 

“Thank you” She straightened up a little higher in her seat, setting the empty cup of tea on the table that separated them. “The people of my village call me a witch, Mr. Belmont. I’m growing fearful of the gossip, the stares. I’ve decided I have too much to lose now and would rather leave my home than tempt their patience any longer.”

 

She brought a hand over her empty stomach, rubbing it affectionately to add to her performance. He was running a hand through his beard, deep in thought “Do you already have a place to stay?”

 

“I don’t.” She sighed, fumbling with her fingers. “But I’m sure I can find another village in need of a doctor.”

 

“We have a shortage of healers on the estate as well.” The Belmont went serious, his expression far too sincere for the tales she had heard from her husband. “We can guarantee your protection in exchange for your assistance. There are midwives stationed here as well to help you deliver when the time comes. We have more to offer you than just a knife.”

 

“I’m sure you know the rumors spreading about you already. Bring me into your home and you’ll put your entire family in danger.” Lisa was shaking her head at his generosity. “I can’t have that on my conscience.”

 

She brought out her coin purse, setting it between them to signal the end of their conversation. He opened the black box sitting on the table with a sigh, revealing a decorated silver dagger, humming with sanctity and protection. It was beautiful and much heavier in her hands than she had realized, considering the weight of her goals.

 

“Our doors are always open.” He brought out his hand again to close the deal, his palm much warmer than it had been at the start. She felt herself gravitating towards his kindness, hugging him suddenly and wishing for their safety. She knew of what would come for them, the extinction of their entire clan at a time she had felt relieved it had happened. It meant the security of her own family after all.

 

“I hope we can meet again, Mr. Belmont.” She broke away to see a gentle smile, holding onto each of his hands “I would like our children to play together one day, so you _must_ stay safe.”

 

“If you’re talking about the mobs, we’ve never paid them any mind. That’s worked for us so far.” He shrugged, offering her hands a gentle squeeze.

 

“Don’t let your pride get before your family, Mr. Belmont. That’s the greatest sin a parent can commit.” Lisa urged him to take her warning, filling her intent with the resolve of her mission. She would sacrifice everything if it meant her son would not carry the burden of paying for his father’s sins.

 

“I’ll keep that in mind.” He surmised, bidding her farewell at the entrance of his estate. She looked back one last time, taking in the face of the man who looked so much like the stranger at her son’s side. Trevor Belmont, she repeated in her head, making a mental note to bid the boy a visit in hopes of forming a friendship with her Adrian.

 

 

Lisa waited to set out on her journey. She counted down the days to her departure, in secrecy letting no one know of the day she would leave the village. Lisa planned it exactly as she had done before, marching towards the desolate peaks of Castlevania with a different sharpened dagger at her helm. Her ideal situation was to replay it faithfully to her memories and end his life him before he even realized her intent. She would not descend into temptation. She would not fall in love again, for there was no love that remained for the vile man.

 

She would offer herself to him in exchange for the conception of her son, and sacrifice the life of her second child, knowing it would be too far of a risk to conceive them both. Lisa cried under a tree halfway into her journey, begging for forgiveness in light of her selfishness. Lisa wanted to have seen the face of her baby, wondering if she would give light to another boy or a little girl, wondering if they would take on the appearance of their father or the features of their mother. Wispy blond hair or jet-black strands, thick eyelashes or a button nose. She mourned in the heaviness of her decisions, knowing she could not have it all.

 

When she arrived at his doorstep, the mechanical gears groaned in their awakening, letting her into the castle that had once become her home. Vlad regarded her strangely, his eyes harboring the same evil intent she had witnessed before.

 

But he had changed. He remembered her.

 

And he was lonely. The painting on the wall was never there before, a visualization of the torture he was already putting himself through before she had come into his life this time around. It made her face the reality of her situation, that she was no longer on a mission to kill Dracula, the monster he had become. She was going to kill the man she married.

 

Vlad had stocked his panty with her favorite teas and spices, honoring her memory by filling his house with everything devoted to retaining her presence. Her heart cried out when she smelled the sweet scent of the coffee she had taught him to make, tasting just as sweet as the expression he had been giving her.

 

And when they fell back into their bickering, his stubbornness pitied against her hardheadedness from his ambivalence to teach her, she felt her will falter. She wanted to throw her arms around him, embrace him with a smile and tell him the truth from the Cherrywood table he had taken out willingly from its hiding spot. That he didn’t have to worry about teaching her, that she already knew what would happen.

 

Lisa managed to keep her guard up, beginning to wonder how much longer she could keep up the façade. This was the hold he had on her, and it was only the first day. She had to remind herself that there was no love that remained.

 

He quickly noticed her ability to delve right into the books, forgetting to feign her ignorance as she constructed her notes from scratch. He was inquisitive, always searching for answers to prove his theories, reminding her to be careful around his genius. So, when he asked about her ability to read a different language she didn’t technically lie about learning from her previous mentor, she just didn’t address that her previous mentor was really him. It seemed to sedate his mind for the moment or distract him from another underlying thought wandering his mind.

 

His eyes looked dryly towards her, thirsty and feral. She felt like prey in his gaze.

 

Lisa tried not to mind his overwhelming look, the same one that signified his desire to take her right there where she sat. He left before uttering another word, leaving her hot and needy as she reminisced the effect he had on her.

 

Lisa thought it was strange to see his irises stained red, furious scarlet veins slowly overtaking the white of his eyes. Something wasn’t right with him, and she made the split-second decision to stay right where she was or go on a wild witch-hunt to find him. Lisa cursed her caring nature.

 

Armed with her silver dagger, she followed the little memory she had of the location of his blood supplies, promising herself she would only check if he was down there and leave immediately before he noticed her presence. She followed him down those steps once in her lifetime, carrying a sick Adrian in her arms as her husband assured her he was going to be alright. That his little boy was stronger than he looked. She remembered the sleepless nights he had spent beside their son, caring for his well-being as his body accepted the transformation and assuring her that he would let nothing happen to her boy. It was his promise to her.

 

Lisa slowly opened the metal door, silently peeking into the path leading towards the blood reserves. The smell of blood hit her hard and heavy, and she heard no other noise coming from its depths. With a deep breath, she pushed further into the stillness.

 

Her heart sank when she found Vlad unconscious on the cellar floor, surrounded by the mutilated pigs he had tried to feed on, and dawning on her that he had been starving himself for who knows how long. She wondered how he could have possibly gotten himself to this point and how long he was alive before she came to life as she covered her nose from the foul rotting odor of her surroundings. She pressed two fingers to feel for his pulse, her stomach going cold when she felt nothing beneath his skin. She waited in denial until a single, weakened thump made her blink the tears away from her eyes.

 

This was no time to cry for him, not now. Lisa hoisted him around her shoulders and dragged him slowly towards the nearest portal she had knowledge of, stopping fearfully before the large mirror. She hadn’t crossed through one before, didn’t know where it would lead, but her strength was fading and there was little choice left. With another huff she marched forward again, her knees shaking under the weight of the huge vampire.

 

Lisa was relieved to find she was closer to his quarters now and dropped his body on the floor to catch her breath. He needed blood. And his body had already rejected animal blood.

 

Lisa cursed at the falter in her heart, yearning to help the man she loved a lifetime ago, the father of her children. She reasoned it was all for her son, the same one he jokingly demanded as a price for teaching her, the one he had wounded severely in his sadness after swearing to never bring him harm. She gathered her supplies before helping him into the room, sprawling him across the floor and laying him face up. She couldn’t find the strength to lift him into the bed any time soon, not after dragging him halfway across the castle.

 

Lisa felt for her vein instead, piercing her skin carefully and drawing several vials of blood to feed him with. She pressed on the wound and anticipated it wouldn’t bruise, knowing she had to erase the evidence of what she already knew. But Vlad was a smart man, and she remembered to bring the book on the theory of human circulation, the one she had learned to draw blood from eons ago. Lisa hated herself for planning out such a meticulous lie.

 

She brought the open vial to his nose, hoping his nature would just take over and drink the blood he was given. It seemed he was too far gone. So she took the glass to her lips, her nose assaulted with the sting of copper and nearly causing her to hurl at the thought of tasting it.

 

Once upon a time she was willing to turn for him and expose herself every day to the copper taste, back when she was living in her fairytale of a life. She questioned what changed when a human became a vampire, making it more appealing to those creatures.

 

She covered her nose and drank her own blood, bringing her lips quickly to his and forcing it down his throat. It wasn’t as bad as she had thought and readily took a mouthful of another through her delirium. She did the same for every vial until there was none left to give, leaving her lips pressed to his, kissing him desperately after the last vial was emptied. Lisa missed him so much, wished she could forget the sight of the demon he could become and abandon her hate-filled mission to end it all. She parted his lips and let out a tired breath, wanting nothing more than to settle in the waves of time and continue living by his side like this, in their new life, their second chance at love. She pulled away from her foolishness, stopping herself from rekindling the embers of her enduring love. She had to remember the monster he was, what he had done to her son. Her last service to him was cleaning his skin and changing his clothes before hoisting him up onto the massive bed.

 

Lisa felt a dizzy spell come over her, finding a spot to sit beside his bed to recover from her blood loss. When he woke, she realized his immediate focus had been about her, afraid of having hurt her, and hurriedly got up to rush and find her without noticing her presence right beside him. She scolded him for expending the energy she tirelessly recovered in him, forcing him to rest even though he probably didn’t need it. It was the physician inside her that cared for him, nothing more. But he had looked up at her with such gratification as if she was the light of his life for doing something so simple.

 

She was only betraying his trust.

 

Lisa was astounded to find out just how long he was starving himself, trying to end it all in the second life he was given, and suddenly making it all real. Vlad looked away defeated, admitting his actions loud and clear. He was killing himself. He was suffering. And now she was here, and she could see in his eyes that he had something to live for.

 

Her heart pained at her deception.

 

She wondered if there really was any love that remained.

 

Vlad was always so kind to her, respectful and caring. He was being the man she had fallen in love with, letting him teach her what she already knew. Passing the days peacefully at his side. Her mind lingered on thoughts of forgiveness, letting his warm eyes flutter close to her face, accepting his tender kiss in the doorframe of her bedroom. It was the first kiss he had given her, and it was only the third week.

 

She touched herself at the thought of his love, remembering the man he had been, how incredibly good he treated her. She was drowning at the memories of his tremendous strength, holding her in place securely as he gently eased into her, bottoming out and leaving her filled entirely with his size. She remembered how good it felt their first time, recalling the stories of painful experiences from the women in her village, how they pained and tore under their husbands as they recounted a woman was supposed to bleed her first time. Lisa had never felt that pain, a testament to his proficiency and expertise of the human body. Her fingers never achieved the fullness of her husband, leaving her unsatisfied and exhausted as she settled from her high. It would have to do.

 

And then the weeks would turn to months, and Lisa slowly forgot her motives and ambivalence to love him. Her curiosity had gotten the better of her, delving into the many secrets of the castle she had never set out to uncover. She thought of him as human, perhaps her greatest mistake, and one she sought to correct. He was hesitant at first, but his actions betrayed his words, leading her into his private study, an area she refused to see in life, and even more so in death. Vlad was content to show her everything after treading carefully around her questions, and she decided to finally learn of the side of her husband she had been denying. Of the vampire known as Dracula.

 

The room invoked so many bad memories, so many images flashing through her mind as she shook her head to get away from the mirror. The mutilated bodies of infants he looked upon with glee. The horrendous wails of humans as they begged for a savior. 

 

But then he would press her tightly against his body, touching her in ways offered the safety she so desperately needed. When he held her hand and traced it gently across the mirror, it was a command to forget his mistakes, and for those simple moments, she thought things could be as they once were.

 

Her heart went out to him when he stilled in front of the massive door at the entrance of his home, understanding all to well the fear of waking up from the dream they had both been living in.

 

Lisa decided it was time to end the lie.

 

And so, she led him into the ocean, reassuring it was safe with her tender words, drawing his lips to hers and forcing him to come face to face with reality. She too was scared to face the truth, weakening his power in the far reaches of the ocean, knowing all too well the dangers she was exposing him to.

 

When he took her once again, his fangs were buried deep in her neck, her life was flowing into him unhindered as she realized that this is what he truly was. A monster that fed off the lives of the innocent. Yet his touches became gentle and he carried her body into his bed, sinking lower to taste the pleasure between her legs. He had already sent her to hell and back, but he was determined to bring her to the heavens above, sedating her mind and assuring her for a moment that maybe it was better this way.

 

She could keep him confined to his home while she had another chance at taming the beast inside him. But he kept biting at her skin, reminding her of the feral, vicious animal that had brought so much pain to their son. How long would it take to change him, was it even possible?

 

For every moment he released inside her, she kept forgetting her mission. What was it that she even wanted? Did she truly want him to be anyone else than the vampire, Vlad Dracula Tepes?

 

It was all so clear to her then, as her hand searched beneath his pillows to feel the burning silver blade. She loved him. She loved every part of him, the man the vampire, the monster. Her body followed the orders she had given it long ago, clutching the handle of her dagger mechanically and dragging it out from its hiding place. Lisa wanted him just as he was, accepting every part of his darkness as her own. Her soul was already bound to him, and she realized she would go through all the pain and sadness again if it meant staying by his side. She thought of their son, the boy who had to shoulder the burden of her foolishness and she thought of her baby, the innocent life torn from her by righteous men. No one was blameless now, her virtue tainted as she accepted the fate she had sworn not to follow.

 

She tried to stop the arc already in motion, only finding the strength to move her blade at the last second, missing his heart. She couldn’t bring herself to do it, she couldn’t kill him in the end. He looked at her surprised at first, hissing in pain as he lowered his sight to see the silver dagger embedded in his chest, embezzled with the mark of the Belmont Clan. When she looked up into his eyes through the tears blurring her vision, she realized the damage had been done.

 

His laughter broke her sorrow, bringing a hand to her cheek. He took a moment to consume the sight of her betrayal, smiling bitterly above her. “I taught you better than this, Lisa.”

 

He grabbed the hand that held the dagger, unsheathing the burning blade with a splatter of blood and driving it back into his chest. She wailed in anguish, desperately trying to remove her hand from his grip as he thrust deep into her again, pushing his body forward to meet the blade.

 

Time had stopped until she was able to slip from his hold, watching his hand stop right above his heart, incapable of killing himself.

 

“Kill me!” He roared at her as she struggled to get out of his clutches, trapped beneath him and beholding his rage directed towards her for the first time. He loomed close to her throat, growling low and menacing, his breath cold against her skin “You will have your son with this, you have your knowledge. You don’t need me anymore.”

 

“Please, no!” She implored with him, feeling him dig the helm of her knife into her palm, wrapping her fingers tight around the leather, and forcing them closed with his hand. “Vlad, stop! It hurts! You’re hurting me!”

 

She immediately felt his weight lift off the bed, leaving her cold and aching and unbearably empty. He tossed the dagger back onto the mattress, leaving it in front of her soaked in his blood. He turned on his heel and left the room, the silence too much to stomach.

 

“Vlad! Don’t leave me right now.” She followed him, legs weak and body slow as she followed him into the hall, brightened with the dim light of dusk. “Vlad!”

 

“You are in no position to make demands of me.” He kept walking, his steps too large and fast to shrink the distance between them.

 

“I am your wife!” She called after him, about to release a breath of relief when he froze and turned to face her, and having it die quickly in her throat at the sight of his bright crimson eyes.

 

“Not. Yet.” He snarled, lowering his massive frame to spit the words back into her face.

 

“I know you’re angry at me.” She began, clutching the thin blanket she had dragged out with her to cover her body, feeling completely exposed under his piercing vision. “But I need you –”

 

“How much it was real, Lisa?” His eyes were reddened, holding back from lashing out completely. “Did you ever intend to join me? Did you ever love me?”

 

“ _Everything_ was real!” She screamed with everything left in her, letting out the angry tears she had withheld from shedding. “Dammit Vlad, I knew you were coming home soon, I wanted to surprise you and Adrian with the news of our child, but I—”

 

She choked on her words, wiping away the tears clouding her vision. she heaved a deep sob “but then I died, and I saw what you did, and I didn’t want to think that was the same man I had fallen in love with.”

 

“What?” His voice was shuddered slightly, piecing together the truth.

 

“I saw all of it, I watched you dying for so long, I witnessed all the orders you carried out, the innocents you killed… you _war_ upon humanity” She let her words out with a muted whimper, whispering close to the end as she lost the will to speak. Her knees gave out under the weight of it all, letting the floodwaters break through her defenses. She had held it in for so long, finally crying, accepting her grief. “I loathed what they did to me, but I watched you try to kill my _son_.”

 

Vlad stood before her silently, frozen in place as she cried out.

 

What could he say after that?

 

Lisa waited for retaliation, for him to leave her forever in the loneliness of her misery.

 

Then he walked past her, giving her his answer as he left her on the floor of his castle, choking on the sobs from the broken heart caught in her throat. She was shaking, the cold of her surroundings biting into her.

 

She couldn’t move.

 

She had to accept this.

 

That she failed again.

 

Lisa flinched at the cool touch of his hand, kneeling beside her and draping his cape around her.

 

Vlad wrapped her tightly in the silken fabric as he tucked her head beneath his jaw, holding her silently in his arms until she had no more tears left to shed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's just going to be smooth sailing from here, am I right?  
> Her interaction with the Belmonts was initially written to play out a lot harsher, but I couldn't help myself, so I let her make some more friends.  
> Shoutout to any fans of the games out there who recognize the names at the beginning. More to come on that soon!


	7. Old Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was SO DANG hard to write. But here it is... Enjoy!

 

 

 

If he had known. If only he had witnessed the moments leading to her death as she had been done with his, it would have all played out so differently. He would have carried out his punishment before the thought of religion spread like the plague upon the country, reincarnated at the time he had turned his back on their dogma. He should have enslaved them all to live forever in perpetual agony and waited patiently for his lover to be reborn into the world, freeing only her from humanity’s prison.

 

No— Vlad let the thought of his wife, sleeping peacefully in his home ground him to his mission. She was safe and unhurt, the hope of wrapping himself around her once again as a new man steadied him on the edge of his insanity. He wanted to be strong for her. Lisa needed to see it would all be different, that he would no longer shed the blood of her innocents after the night was done.

 

The red moon cast its greedy light into the night sky, energizing his steps as he leaped high above the rooftops, free from the chains that blurred his reason. It was so easy to open the doors to his castle, their weight now an insignificant doubt cast into the depths of his mind. Vlad had a renowned purpose, his fangs and claws dawn under his shawl. Basking in the silent shade of his fury. He faded into the villages like a restless shadow, sulking quietly through the silent corridors in search of holy men to give him company. It was only befitting for one evil to seek out the other, coming to collect a debt long overdue. He chuckled and continued into the sleeping town, visualizing the colors of their regret painting the riverbanks.

 

Lisa would have wanted this to end a different way. She, who could forgive the sins of her malevolent society for following their false prophets into their own corruption, she who looked past even his own vile history to love and forgive him. But she had made her choice when she drew the knife from his chest.

 

Lisa allowed the beast to live.

 

There was so much to say. So many unspoken words they needed to bring forward into the light, yet they both settled instead on the silence; knowing there were no words that could convey the emotional turmoil coursing through them. For once, Vlad was at a loss on how he felt. He thought it was anger, relentless fury that ignited in his core at the face of her betrayal. He thought it was guilt, for the pain he had brought upon her in the afterlife, witnessing his relentless massacre against all that stood before him. But now as he let the silence to the night offer him the comfort to truly sort his mind, he realized there was nothing but pride at the sight of her vengeance, bearing her teeth at him and glaring at him with the intent to kill.  

 

To see that look in her eyes for the very first time was exhilarating. Vlad never would have thought she had it in her, beneath her copious sanctimoniousness and unyielding justice, the sight of her wrath was joy in the purest sense. He had underestimated her cleverness, playing him so methodically in order to achieve everything and anything she wanted, leaving him abnormally enthralled with her approach. Lisa never ceased to amaze him when she decided to follow through towards her goals, finding himself impressed with her resolve and harboring even deeper respect for the lengths she went to. He hoped for just a moment, this meant a shred of him had influenced her ambitions, as much as hers began to change his. Wanting to see her hate with the same intensity, to justify his actions now that she knew of a human’s capacity for evil. Therefore, he killed tonight in her honor.

 

Vlad never realized his love for her had the capacity to grow beyond what they had.

 

He ran now to erase the wicked grin that crossed his face, savoring the cold nip of freedom, and crawling silently up the walls of high watchtowers to take out the sentries keeping watch. There was no blood drawn, no markings to identify, just a tight grip around their throats as he crushed their windpipes beneath a folded arm. Vlad lowered their lifeless bodies onto the floor, searching his surroundings for another living soul, awake and wandering the night to meet an unfortunate fate. He killed for revenge, stalking after his prey with the vivid images of what they did to her, impaling each and every man that had dared lay a hand on her. He missed the chance to visit the Catholic leaders in his past life, for he hadn’t known of the damages, or even the torture she was subjected to before her death.

 

“Where is the Mayor?” Vlad snarled at a lowly deacon, breaking the last finger on his right hand and moving onto the left, making sure to draw no blood for the sake of prolonging his execution. The bodies of his fellowship were scattered around them, matted and ripped apart as he went through them one by one.

 

“He’s in the largest estate! The yellow house over by the river.” The man wailed in pain as Vlad crumpled his wrist like paper, bending down low to get a better view of the mess he had made of the deacon’s face. His screams of pain were the greatest symphony he could hear, remembering the Hell he had put Lisa through. “Why are you doing this to me?”

 

“Judgement.” Vlad brought a hand to the Deacon’s cheek, whisking his attention from the bloodbath to face him, bracing the man for the merciless punch at his abdomen. “Big man hiding behind his book of God. How many innocent women have you sullied before watching them burn at the stake?”

 

“I’m… innocent.” The man could barely breathe, his lungs collapsing into themselves from the blow. Vlad dug his heel into the seat, crushing his manliness with a vicious growl. He was screaming from the torture, loud wails filling up the chapel Vlad shouldn’t have been able to enter. He was afraid in the purest sense of the feeling, and it made the demon within him go wild at the thought. Tonight, the people of Wallachia would remember he was not a myth, crushing through their symbols of hope and reminding them to live in true terror once again. After a few more minutes of merciless torment, the human finally died, drowning in a pool of his own blood and gore. When the gargling ceased, he winced at the stench of the deacon’s insides, as rotten within as the man was in life.

 

“I’ve done you a service then.” Vlad talked to the unmoving body, somewhat angry at himself for having killed him so quickly. “Perhaps now, the weight of your sins won’t drag you to Hell.”

 

As he leaped into the night again, he focused only on the sight of that terrified look in her eyes, begging for mercy and receiving none. His mind echoed with the pained screams of his pregnant wife as she was defiled on a dirty stone floor, beaten with all sorts of miscellaneous devices and covered up well to erase any evidence of a struggle. Vlad remembered the face of the man who caused her pain, the bishop, still a priest in their current time, but a sinner all the same. He carried out his own inquisition upon the Catholic church, vowing to exterminate them all before the morning sun appeared over the horizon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dracula found he needed answers as soon as he carried her into the bed, urging her to rest and worry about their actions later.  He ran his fingers through Lisa’s soft hair, his caring touches and tender kisses lulling her to sleep despite her objection. Vlad let out a breathless sigh, lingering on the bed for a moment to calm himself and consider what had happened between them, and for the impudent act of using his magic on her. It had to be done for her protection, he reasoned internally, leaning down to press a light kiss on her brow and promising to return before she even noticed. He slowly removed his arm from under her, slithering off the mattress to let her rest and willing peaceful dreams into her mind. He regarded her for a moment in the dim light of their bedroom, wondering how they could even move forward from here.

 

Vlad had wandered into his study that same morning, sorting through his collection to find any evidence on the effects of soul binding, how they were formed, how they were broken. It was to his surprise that he knew nothing on the subject, leaving him in a desperate search for knowledge. The glass shards jingled pleasantly during his pursuit, focusing his attention on them after minutes hunting down any information. He realized then he knew of someone that may just have the answers. With a quick flick of his wrist, the fragments floated towards him, accepting the glyph he scraped onto its surface with an excited hum. It took a moment to recognize his destination, opening a door he hadn’t called upon in a very long time and forming another mirror, glowing a bright green hue at his fingertips. Vlad signaled the entrance to another world, deciding to pay his old friend an overdue visit. He looked around one last time, listening for any other presence that may have followed him into his study and descending into the void.

 

The river rushed below his steps, the wails of souls inviting him into the steady stream, tempting to any other being. As he advanced towards the heart of the underworld, the familiarity of the surroundings signaled that his presence had been expected for quite some time now, descending slowly to the master of its domain. He came to face the one who once helped him once seek immortality, his second in command and ally from a time he still wandered the Earth as a man. “Hello, Death.”

 

“Master Mathias.” The Grim Reaper raised his head at the unexpected visitor, turning to meet him slowly. “It’s been too long.”

 

“I no longer answer to that name.” Vlad approached him, watchful of the loyalty the creature truly harbored towards him after all their time apart.

 

“My apologies, Prince of Darkness.” He offered Vlad a slight, sardonic bow, drawing his scythe from the river of souls after stirring their restless reality. “Or is it _Dracula_ now?”

 

“You know why I am here, Death.” He allowed his comrade’s remarks to go over his head, willing to ignore them in hopes of not provoking his ego. Their pact had been forged on the grounds of a mutual alliance, his own existence giving form to the being created from the hatred and folly of man. The reaper took a place by his side during his first attack on humanity, under the condition of unyielding loyalty in exchange for feeding off his chaos and the souls of those he killed. But in truth, they were just simple creatures of evil, drawn to the other with shared goals.

 

“Come to pay your respects?” Death was gliding towards him and motioning to the river of souls flowing around them “Or to thank me for protecting the souls of your family?”

 

Vlad furrowed his brow, suddenly angered at the mention of his family “What did you just say?”

 

“Merely the truth.” Death led him towards a chalice, giving him the signal to investigate the still waters, and gaze upon the two small wisps of light floating freely inside. “I have watched over the integrity of your mate until the time for her rebirth came. Now I just await the birth of your children, to return them back to the realm of the living.”

 

Vlad was mesmerized at the two small souls swirling in unison, bright and strong in the clear water of Death’s protection. He could immediately tell which one was Adrian’s, a softened yellow tone hesitating to get anywhere near him as it swam in the artificial current, just as defiant as his mother. And another more curious orb he had yet to meet. “I see now. Was this all your doing?”

 

“I’m afraid that my manipulation of time is still quite rudimentary,” Death reached into the fluid, lifting the darker soul of his unborn child and holding it out for him to take. He stretched his hands towards the soul with uncertainty, eyes widening at the unexpected chance to touch it, trembling as he received the tiny form from the skeleton. Vlad exhaled as the weightless existence fell into his open palms, wondering if it was truly alright to be holding the fragile existence. It felt uncharacteristically warm, happy even, to meet him like this for the first time, shattering any prior hesitation. “but I’m sure my work is still within your expectations.”

 

“Why are you doing this?” Vlad lifted the soul to his face, scared to breathe on it too hard in fear of hurting it in some way. Tufts of black smoky threads curled along the crevices in his fingers, so tiny and delicate as it explored the new surroundings, reaching out to him bravely. This one had more in common with him than its mother, from what he could tell, radiating such confidence and strength from a compromised position. The small presence must know it was safe in his hold, spinning around excitedly in the hands of its father as it recognized the paternal connection.

 

He was already in love.

 

“If you die, I will slowly begin to disappear, master. No other being can sustain my hunger for chaos.” Death floated around him, removing his child’s soul from his hands and rejoining the two siblings once more. “Besides, my loyalty for you is unyielding. I will do anything in my power to preserve your greatness.”

 

“You have my gratitude Death.” Vlad appeased his friend, confirming their shared resolve as he looked upon his children “Answer me a question.”

 

“You will have a response if it is within my knowledge.” The Grim Reaper was smiling, as much as a skull would allow the expression.

 

“My wife was able to persist beyond her death, bearing witness to the atrocities I brought down upon the humans.” Vlad chose his words carefully, observing as the skeleton being reached out to the empty space of his domain, and drew a soul from the well. “I have come to ask how this is possible.”

 

“Feeling regretful master?” Death chided, fiddling with the soul in his hand until he drew a visible chain from the glowing object.

 

“Not at all. But for her, I’ll pretend.” Dracula watched with admiration as the reaper opened its mouth and consumed the mortal soul of an unfortunate human.

 

“Allow me to ask you this.” Death cast his eyes to him, glowing red irises staring from the depth of his empty sockets. “Is that _all_ she remembers?”

 

Vlad looked upon him with confusion “Is she supposed to know more?”

 

“Of course, I imposed no restriction on her memories when she was reborn.” Death took notice of his misperception. “She _should_ have knowledge of her past life.”

 

“You mean her past life, as in the past Lisa?” Vlad was growing annoyed with the cryptic dance of his servant’s words. “She does.”

 

“No master, the mistress must have a familiarity of the time she inhabited the vessel you came to know as Elisabetha.” Vlad went silent at the mention of his first wife, the missing fragments of her appearance slowly entering his mind. It had been so long since he had remembered his first true love. "Both women share the same soul, after all."

 

“Lisa is Elisabetha.” He whispered. It wasn’t a question for the reaper to answer, it wasn’t even an admittance of a truth he had known all along. It was the overwhelming discovery of all the hints he had chosen to ignore, the memories of their personalities suddenly merging into one as the pieces of his reluctance fell into place.  

 

When Lisa stepped forward from the light of the sun on that very first day, he had dismissed the tight wrenching of his gut, forbidding himself to fall back into the madness of remembering his love. But then she had spoken to him with an all familiar voice, looking so much like a love long forgotten, crumbling his hardened rejection of the possibility of reincarnation. It was death himself who claimed it wasn’t possible to bring back a soul that had been taken to Eden, filling him with rage at the idea of not only being taken from him in life but also in death. This was his reward for unconditionally serving God, a betrayal worse than the curses of his evil. Elisabetha’s death was the drive that made him Dracula, Prince of Darkness and the shadow of neverending evil cast over humanity. It was the only way for him to live knowing he could never again see her, the woman who loved him only for the sake of loving him.

 

“You said her reincarnation wasn’t possible.” Vlad looked up at the reaper, speechless as the current of memories began flooding his senses.

 

“It wasn’t.” Death stood ghastly still, delivering the final verdict. “Not unless she chose to leave Eden of her own free will.”

 

Vlad remembered how he chose to love Lisa as her own person, holding her as someone separate from his first wife. And in the moments of her embrace, where he wished time could stop and gift him eternal life by her side, her light was slowly replacing the sorrowful memories of his past. He accepted his betrayal, admitting he was the weaker man for not choosing to remember, for forgetting the one he had sworn his love to in favor of this newer, greater feeling. Lisa cherished him, urged him to change his toxic ways to make the world better. And he did so to be the man she deserved, hiding behind a disgusting veil of lies.

 

“Is it possible for one to do that?” Vlad had studied the scriptures as a mortal, the promise of happiness so great in the afterlife, that any suffering in life was merely a small price to pay.

 

“Your wife is proof of that.” Death admitted solemnly, making Vlad let out a wistful breath.

 

“Why would she do that?” The question was more towards himself, going unanswered as the reaper continued to answer his previous question.

 

“When I encountered her soul drifting in the well once you were slain, I realized she is forbidden from entering paradise again.” Death gazed over into the endless ocean of his domain. “Instead of simply reviving you, I chose to rip the fabric of time and space with the energy released upon your death. Though, I still don’t know the consequences of this action.”

 

Vlad was listening to his explanation, he truly was. It resonated somewhat that there may be significant costs to pay for altering the passage of time, but the idea of that impending doom was hard to prioritize. As it stood, Elisabetha had chosen to leave an afterlife of eternal joy, breaking the greatest sin in the eyes of all that way holy. And she had reincarnated into the woman he came to know as Lisa, who unconsciously sought him out again to rekindle the love they had. She had rejected her own happiness to be with him.

 

“Lisa’s soul is bound to me when she dies?” Dracula confirmed his suspicion, now knowing very well the devastating price of taking her virginity. “I thought it was a myth… Oh, how wrong have I been.”

 

He clenched his fists tightly, drawing blood from his palms as he realized what he had done. He had just condemned her to an eternal life of suffering, something she must have been clearly aware of. The souls within the chalice whirred loudly, chiming as if reaching out to soothe him, approaching the edged to comfort a man who didn’t deserve their love.

 

What he had done to Adrian.

 

What he had done to his mother.

 

He couldn’t even protect the life of his second child.

 

He was gripping the edges of the structure, unaware he was seeking their comfort in his sorrow, wishing to already have them both at his side.

 

“You have my word that I will return them to you when the time is right.” The reaper circled around him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “When the vessel within my mistress grows strong enough to harbor the boy’s soul, I’m sure you will feel his presence.”

 

Vlad let out a slight chuckle, allowing a bit of happiness to enter his mind at the thought of confirming Lisa’s pregnancy.  Death led him away from his children, proving that his presence offered him more than just a revelation of sorrow. He had dipped the scythe into the swirling pool of madness, sorting through the memories of the fallen souls for his master to observe. “Perhaps it is best to release some rage for today since I believe there is something else you must see.”

 

“What are you showing me?” Vlad looked up at the creature backing up slightly as he allowed him to inch closer, images through the eyes of another.

 

“My loyalty to you extends to my mistress.” Death spoke with an angered tone. “I am proud to serve one with such pure devotion to you. And though I would have made them all pay myself, I’m willing to give you the honor of avenging your family.”

 

Death hovered behind him, showing him the grotesque torture his wife was put through. Dracula let the resounding echo of her screams fill his mind, watching until all he heard was a silent buzz, vision completely reddened with wild rage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vlad stepped back into the confines of his home, bloodied and heaving in a withering temper just as the sun appeared over the horizon. He knew the effects of his enchantment had worn off, having been just over 24 hours since he left her to rest in his bed. Lisa was bound to loathe him after this, probably enough to end up regretting her foolish decision to keep him alive. But at least her safety was assured, and perhaps she would even end up outliving the constraints of his soul binding if she decided to kill him now.

 

Lisa found him immediately, appearing ready to lunge at him for his use of magic on her but stopping in her tracks once she noticed the present he had brought her. Her chest sunk in disbelief, recognizing the appearance of the priest, brought into their home by the hair on his head “Vlad what have you done?”

 

“Changing the future.” Vlad lifted the decapitated head of the man that murdered her, the bishop who was yet to earn his rank from the priesthood.  

 

“I never wanted you to kill them! God, Vlad!” She brought her hands into her hair, clutching fistfuls of blond hair and turning away from the sight of the perfectly preserved face. Her voice was wavering, pacing in place as she tried to think of anything to say “How many innocents did you kill?”

 

“Not one.” He dropped the head on the floor with a resounding thump, striping out of his cape and tunic to get away from the scent of blood and checking his undershirt for any stains. “They were all deserving of their deaths.”

 

“They didn’t commit any sins yet!” Tears were flooding her reddened eyes as she pursed her lips at him, shaking angrily when she turned back to face him.

 

“And by that same logic neither did I, but you still tried to kill me?” He tilted his head, approaching her slowly as her eyes took in the sight of the beheaded man. He leaned down close to her ear “How long were you going to wait to tell me about what they did to you?”

 

“What are you talking about?” She was breathless, flinching as he slid a hand to the back of her head, tangling his bloody fingers in her disheveled hair.  He lifted her head by curling a finger under her chin, taking a good look at the face shedding tears for men that didn’t deserve her mercy. He was in awe at how she somehow found the compassion to mourn them after their vile acts. Vlad was furious at her outrageous empathy, wondering at what point was a person’s cruelty too much for her to handle, forgiving _even him_ for nearly killing their son in his madness.

 

“All this time I had thought you were escorted from your home and staked before the town to witness an execution. I thought it couldn’t get worse than that. So when exactly were you ever going to inform me about how they patrolled you through the town for those _innocent people_ to stone you? How these _righteous_ men tortured and beat you until they killed our child before your own death! How they dressed you up in tattered rags and _fucking—_ ” Vlad stopped himself from saying it, the sight of her shaking frame in the mirrored shores of Death’s domain, helpless in a cell while he was off enjoying the world at his leisure. Vlad began to feel the bloodied tears brimming around his eyes, angry at himself for being unable to stop it from happening and angry at her for still pleading for their safety. He watched her memories up until she died, imploring him to forgive humanity from the stake she was crucified upon. “I can’t fathom how you still defend them. That’s something I will never understand Lisa.”

 

“How do you know this?” Lisa was searching his face for answers, lips trembling until she clenched her jaw and broke down in his glare. “You weren’t supposed to know.”

 

“Why not?” He bit down an angry growl, careful to project his anger onto her any more than he already did. “Because you wanted to _prevent_ this? You thought I wouldn’t find out eventually?”

 

“I didn’t want you to know.” She was covering her ears and shaking her head in her hands. Her breathing picking up quickly and becoming jagged, more irregular. He had almost relented and pulled her into an embrace, to apologize for being so cruel to her and explain his reasons in a way for her to understand.  But then she looked back up to him with that fire in her eyes, her irises glowing red with fury in his mind. “You had no right to know.”

 

“Why?!” His voice was a loud bellow in the entrance of his hall, shaking the glass windows slightly as it echoed throughout his home. His grip in her hair tightened, growling as he lowered his face to hers.

 

“Because that is _my pain_ to bear. _”_ She pounded at her chest, glancing at the severed head with disgust. “You dealt with your sorrow like a pathetic animal, dragging everyone into your madness. There was no thought behind it, only an intent towards your selfish, evil end. Who do you think you are Vlad?”

 

“What did you just say to me?” His question slipped between clenched teeth, lips curling back as she glared at him with rage. As if _he_ was the one in the wrong. Those pathetic creatures were the reason he never met the tiny soul in death’s domain, they were the reason he had lashed out at his own son, they were the reason he had become the monster he had sworn he wouldn’t become. How could she not see that?

 

“Who do you think you are to finish _my_ job?” Lisa’s aura was radiating from her burning flesh, her eyes holding none of the kindness he had grown to love, the motherly warmth that had filled her after the birth of Adrian. No, what stood before him now was not the same woman he knew. Neither Lisa nor Elisabetha. This was someone else, a demon that looked down upon his rage like a feral predator that had their kill taken by a lesser being. For the first time since he had met her, Dracula felt afraid of what her anger signified.

 

“And I suppose this is something you would have tended to?” A single drop of sweat crawled down his face, releasing his hold on her to take a step back. “If I didn’t kill them, would you? Or would you have wanted the witch hunts to commence, taking the lives of the innocents you claim to side with?”

 

“Don’t play the hero, _Mathias_.” Lisa approached him, narrowing her eyes and spitting out that name at him like she was exposing a heap of trash beneath the persona he had created. He was frozen in her stare, realizing he was losing the argument. “This isn’t the first time, is it? That you _kill_ in my name?”

 

“Lisa—” He reached out to her, trying to keep the situation from spiraling out of control.

 

“It hasn’t changed since then. _You_ haven’t changed.” She lifted her head, tears falling as she heaved out deep, pained laughs. “Don’t look at me like that, the only one fooled was me.”

 

“How much do you remember?” He tried to divert their attention, knowing they were both too fueled by their emotions, and that the stain of the tension between them was nowhere near being resolved and was seeping in from their past argument. There was too much anger flowing around the room, so he took a step forward to put forth they both needed to take a step back, come back calmer when they had each taken some time to think.

 

“It doesn’t matter does it?!” She rushed forward and gripped his shirt, lifting herself to his face. “Because this life will play out like all the others, where I will die and you will carry on your endless reign of torment until someone temporarily fixes it by killing you. And then you will be revived, and the cycle continues, using my death as an _excuse_ to spread your chaos over this world.”

 

“Lisa we need to stop this—” She lowered him to her with a bout of unexpected strength, snarling as she interrupted him.

 

“This is our punishment for playing God, Vlad. A never-ending life of suffering that we both brought upon ourselves.” She whispered with a sneer, her breath dancing across his lips like wildfire.

 

“It doesn’t have to be this way.” His voice was soft, appealing her inner kindness.

 

“But it will.” She released her hold on his shirt and stepped away from him, crossing her arms and curling into herself in defeat.

 

 “No, no. Don’t you see Lisa? This is our chance to change things.” He could see it then, the endless stream of fates woven into their lives. Light a guiding light belonging him towards it.

 

“How do you know this isn’t just one of the lives we are destined to live?” She was shaking, the anger in her body melting into a steady stream of sadness.

 

“I don’t.” He said to her honestly.

 

“Then what’s the point?” She was shaking her head, licking the bottom of her lip before biting at hard

 

“Us.” Dracula rested a hand on her shoulder, ushering her to turn around and face him to see his sincerity. “We have never been able to see our lives laid out so clearly. This means our lives are meant to change.”

 

“How many more must die then?” Lisa swatted his hand away, the blood already drying into a copper sheen along his fingers “How many more until you’re satisfied?”

 

“Depends how many get in our way,” Vlad told her truthfully, frowning at the flash of disappointment that took over her face. “I see no purpose in killing without reason, but this is something I had to do.”

 

When she didn’t respond he decided to continue, pushing her a little more “Go on, tell me I was unreasonable.”

 

Lisa looked towards the severed head.

 

“Say it!”

 

She looked back at him glaring. “I could have changed things without spilling unnecessary blood.”

 

“Guess that didn’t include mine.” He sneered, taking a step back with a cynical smile.

 

 “I was wrong.” She pulled out the Belmont’s dagger from her hem, clutching it tightly as her face filled with intent. It was a look he was all too familiar with, but never from her. “Perhaps I should have killed you after all.”

 

Vlad let out a wicked laugh and spread out his arms, palms facing up towards the ceiling in submission to her resolve. He felt no fear, no anger nor disappointment. He felt no regret for anything he had done in this life or the ones in his past. At least the birth of his second child would be assured no matter the man she takes after him, so all that was left was a single passing thought, wishing for her happiness. “Do it.”

 

Lisa gritted her teeth, charging at him with the dagger in her hand and lifting it high above her head. Vlad kept his eyes open, waiting for the silver blade to impale him right this time, letting out a breathless sigh as he collapsed under her weight.

 

 

 

They had gotten to the bed somehow, kissing each other like desperate animals as the cold, burning edge of the decorated knife dug into his neck. There was still fresh blood beneath his claws, bright red and fluid getting in her light blond hair, tainting her with the corruption he had brought inside their home. Yet he couldn’t bear to break away from her, his strong, fiery, perfect girl. Always finding a way to keep him alert and on the edge of his senses.

 

Lisa hissed as he pushed his cock inside her, already wet and needy for his frigid touch. She needed no preparation to be ravished so thoroughly, thrusting into her relentlessly as she threatened him with the blade. Her arm was trembling slightly, losing the strength to hold the weight of the Belmont’s weapon and giving him the chance to pin her wrists far above her head. Lisa was melting under him, baring her neck with such an inviting mewl, shivering slightly as he licked along the vein. Years ago, he wouldn’t have dared to sink his teeth in her, now he couldn’t expect a day without it, ripping her apart beneath his fangs and taking everything that belonged to him.

 

The same fire in her eyes courses through her bloodstream, trickling down his throat like molten lava and settling like venom in his core. His fangs were wedged into her neck longer than he had anticipated, knowingly releasing too much of his neurotoxin into her while focusing all his remaining mental aptitude to compose himself. But he wanted her to enjoy it just a bit more, letting out a growl and pressing in farther as she moaned blissfully from his bite. Her quickened heartbeat only sped up the way she flowed into him, taking over his mind entirely with her existence and shackling him to her like a loyal dog. He cursed and lapped up the remaining blood around her neck, admitting he would eagerly suck her dry if her life supply was infinite.

 

Lisa on the other hand, was a mess, moaning and hissing beneath him without caring about the amount of blood he had consumed. Vlad wondered if she enjoyed the thrill of the pain, regretting all those years of wasted tenderness when he could have done things his way all along. With his free hand, he curled his fingers around her neck, killing the hitched groan before it could escape from her gaping mouth.

 

He felt so powerful, fueled by the vitalizing strength of his life force gifted to him by the beautiful woman in his grasp. She would be such a strong vampire, so utterly perfect filled by his blood, just as he was with hers. Her eyelashes fluttered as she rolled her head back, exposing her neck to him once again. He had to hold back now, however; it would be dangerous to take any more. He kissed her roughly instead, letting her taste her own blood on his tongue, a testament of the life he had taken from her.

 

“Go ahead.” She strained out “I can feel your hunger. Bite me again.”

 

“What right do you have to tell _me_ what to do?” Dracula bared his fangs above her neck, growling out his question as she shivered under his strength. They were so perfect for each other, spiritually soul bound and possessing the same harmonic frequency of the mind, but that was nothing compared to the divinity of their bodies. She wrapped around him so tight, the missing piece to his life as he sank deeper into her folds, slowly now, oh so slowly after that frantic fucking. He felt every ridge along her walls in his descent, bottoming out while Lisa quivered in pleasure, taking in deep breaths in preparation of what was coming.

 

“I can take it. Bite me.” Her skin shimmered with sweat, releasing the hold around the helm of her dagger from the tiredness in her muscles. She had submitted to him, strained breaths rising from his chokehold. “Please Vlad.”

 

Vlad pressed a kiss below her jaw chuckling slightly at her slurred words and slithering his palm down her shoulders to abuse a swollen nipple. He nipped at the skin, taunting her with the pretense of biting her again. She was intoxicated with the poison coursing through her, believing to be in a better condition than she truly was, a side effect of the ecstasy she was in. The sight of her delirium made him more excited than it should have, knowing he had caused her this pleasure and unraveling. Lisa begged again, swearing she was fine and wrapping her arms around his neck.

 

Vlad began picking up his pace, gripping her waist tightly to thrust harder into his lovely wife. How cute, they haven’t even married yet. But that truly didn’t matter, not when she was voicing pure filth into their bedroom, dripping with the intent to lead him on for quite a while. There would be no holy matrimony from the sin she was projecting. Where had she hidden this little demon? Seducing him so methodically and awakening his sexual desire past the limits of what he had reached. He was obsessed with her, curious to see how far she could push him before crumbling at her strength.

 

And there she was, wrapping her legs around his waist and flipping their positions, taking back the dominance he had stripped her of. She let out a lustful sigh, smiling as she dipped herself around him and rocking gently at an excruciating pace. Vlad growled at her, the annoyance rising steadily to his mind after how close he had been to his climax, denied by the vixen taking all his power. He decided to take his place back, raise her pleasure as quickly as she had taken his, and fuck her through their shared orgasm.

 

Lisa clearly had other plans, the burning sensation back over his neck and pressing harder. She was enjoying his suffering, getting wetter from the wheeze that slipped past his lips as the dagger found its place over his Adam’s apple.

 

“You know this won’t kill me, Lisa.” Vlad swallowed as she laughed, rewarding him with an increased pace.

 

“What if I just want to see you bleed?” Lisa cracked a smile, mocking him with the slip of the blade across his flesh. He almost wanted to indulge her, move forward into it himself and grant her the wish. But he would let her have the privilege of hurting him and getting away with it. Twice. Hell, she could kill him, and he would still find a way to love her for it. No one else would be granted this privilege, and she didn’t even know her power over him.

 

Vlad could live with this madness, as long as that beautiful, graceful smile stayed alive on her face for him. So when the slight sting of the silver blade broke through his skin, he was losing it, the sensation of her breath suddenly to close to his neck, breasts pressed against his chest as she reached a new grip around his dick and riding him through it all. She was sliding along his length, pulsing and hot around him with renewed speed.

 

The blade was gone, the burn had dissipated from his skin and replaced with new heat. A wet and slippery warmth that raced along his healing cut. He went completely still as Lisa licked the wound she had inflicted, moaning softly and pulling away from him to finish tearing down the last of his control.

 

Vlad acted out of instinct then, pinning her face down and gripping her neck tightly against their pillows. Raising his voice at her to issue a fearful command.

 

“Spit it out!” He was seeing red, time having stopped between them as a visible shiver surged through her body, mewling into the covers as she reached her climax around his cock still buried deep inside her. The throb of her pussy was enough to set him off the edge, making him thrust into her uncontrollably at the thought of what just happened.

 

When he came, he toppled over her, losing all the strength in his arms and knees under the weight of her dangerous decision. Lisa huffed beneath him, squirming from underneath to let out a tired breath, relaxing at his side and curling into his embrace.

 

“No, Lisa! You don’t get to sleep right now.” Vlad got up quickly, and shook her awake, earning him an annoyed groan as she glared at him. “Do you have any idea what you just did?”

 

“Made you feel really good?” She smirked, completely aloof to the consequences of her actions.

 

“You drank my blood.” His voice wavered along with his conviction, wondering why he wasn’t angrier at what she had done.

 

“I licked a cut.” She said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

 

“After I had taken yours.” He focused on any change between their bond, worried to feel an increased connection to her and suddenly focusing on the reality of their situation. “You may very well turn from this.”

 

“It was barely a drop, is that really enough?” She was too calm in light of everything, letting out a loud exaggerated yawn.

 

He didn’t know.

 

That was the most fearsome lack of information he had encountered yet. Dracula, who had acquired his own immortality through the crimson stone in his quest to wage a war against God had not been turned in the conventional way himself. The knowledge of vampires is passed on, _learned._ He had never sired his own fledgling, except in the case of Adrian, a half human hybrid that resulted from their own biological procreation. He had no idea what turning entailed, whether the process was quick or prolonged or even how much of his vitality she needed to gain his immortality. He only remembered the pain, the excruciating feeling of dying.

 

“Forgive me, Lisa.” Vlad pressed his lips against her temple, holding her tightly as she curled against him, relaxing on his chest. “I truly do not know.”

 

“Just relax then. I’m tired and still mad at you, so if you’re such a genius I recommend reading the atmosphere and letting me sleep on my _own_ free will.” Lisa hummed, nuzzling closer to him with the slightest undertone of irritation. He didn’t know how she could drift to sleep with the hammering in his chest, completely afraid of having turned her into the undead. She was so unaffected, making him seem like a fearful child clinging to his mother in the face of uncertainty. How could she not care?

 

He didn’t sleep that night. Not like he truly needed it in the first place. Instead, he passed a damp towel over her skin, washing her with warm water as she slept on as nothing had happened. Vlad kept a careful watch over any changes, alerted by any small movement in her sleep. He felt no difference in his own consciousness, other than the lingering sign of her presence around him, a feeling that had always existed between them. Vlad wanted to march over to his study, knowing he had countless books on the subjects of progenies and their progenitors, never bothering to read them in exchange for topics more worth his time. But he couldn’t leave now, not when she needed him at her side.

 

And it was precisely now that he regretted that train of thought, rejecting the ideals of vampire society and continuing with his own way to live. If she turned, there was no longer any exceptions that prevented the court from coming to get her, enlist her in their ranks and subject her to their overbearing rules. Since he had turned by unruly measures and killed any bloodsucking leech that dared to step on his doorstep, it was better to leave him be, with a handful of loyal servants at his disposal.

But if Lisa turns—

 

He didn’t want to think about it.

 

The fate of her life was to _never_ be turned. He wouldn’t do it. And it was the refusal that bit deep into his suffering. His greatest gift to him was their son, for the sole reason of being a piece of her to remember when she passed and continued into a place he could never follow. Vlad Dracula Tepes would never turn his soulmate. It was how he had envisioned it all to be. And now that he knew of her reincarnations, living eternally would be just a bit more bearable after she passes, living quietly until her next vessel sought his presence.

 

While he had trained and raised his own son like a progenitor, he never wished to train a vampire fledgling, he never even had an interest of siring his own. Perhaps that was the difference between family and a stranger. One was a duty as a father, the other was the obligation of a master. He didn’t want Lisa to lose her rebellious nature under his command for years to come or until she became completely dependent of herself. He didn’t want to rule over her at all.

 

There was also the obvious elephant in the room. If she was pregnant, there was a chance for her body to reject the life growing inside her if it took up the vampiric genes. No vampire woman to date had conceived a child. In fact, the only possible way to create another vampire and increase their numbers was to turn a living human. Even then there were strict laws in place for becoming a progenitor.

 

Vlad bit down on his nail, nervous at the endless thoughts coursing through him. He wished to partake in Lisa’s approach to all of this, sit around to see what could happen. But he couldn’t do that. He needed to think of solutions, contingency plans for every scenario. Where to relocate in the event of an emergency, especially now that he had killed every minister in their immediate area. These were all things to consider now before it was too late, all while his lovely little fox slept peacefully at his side.

 

Yes. This is what he would do.

 

He would take all her pain and worry and shoulder it himself. Anything, if it meant having her secure and alive. Vlad leaned down to press a kiss on her cheek, whispering his promise that things would change to soothe his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... As you've probably noticed, the chapter count is now unknown. There will be a few more than expected since I can't seem to stop typing once I get going, but I didn't want to set it to 10 in case the chapters get longer than I expect. As it is, the story is more than 3/4 of the way done, with a few more twists and turns along the way. Hope you all liked the chapter.

**Author's Note:**

> An idea that has plagued my mind for several weeks now. What if when Dracula dies, he wakes up in the past and attempts to make things different?


End file.
